This Week's Funding Roundup: Australian startups bank $275M

This week, Australian startups secured a total of $275.8 million in funding across ten deals. The highlight was Heidi, which closed a $140 million Series C round, earning its new unicorn status. Here are the details of all the funding deals raised or reported this week.

Heidi, $140 million, AI medical scribe and clinical workflow platform

Heidi raised US$340 million in new funding, made up of a US$100 million Series C (reported locally as A$140 million and A$475 million total) and a US$240 million growth investment, valuing the company at US$900 million (A$1.26 billion). The Series C was led by existing investor Blackbird, with Phoenix Court, Point72 Private Investments and Headline also participating. The growth funding came separately from US firm General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund.

Co-founded in 2021 by Dr Tom Kelly, Waleed Mussa and Yu Liu, Heidi builds AI tools that transcribe consultations and produce structured clinical documents for medical professionals, freeing up clinician time.

Amber Electric, $78.5 million home battery and EV energy automation platform

Amber raised its Series E, nearly doubling its original target as it pushes into international markets. The round was led by 1GT, Morgan Stanley's climate tech fund, with support from ETF Partners, Innovation Victoria and E.ON. Amber runs Australia's largest residential battery automation platform, holding around half the local market, and will use the funds to expand across Europe.

HEO, $37 million, satellite imaging and space domain awareness

HEO raised its Series B to expand its satellite imaging network into geostationary orbit. Sources vary slightly on the full investor list. Startup Daily names Beaten Zone Venture Partners as lead, with the federal government's National Reconstruction Fund Corporation contributing $10 million, alongside Dcode Capital and existing investors Airtree and Salus Ventures. Capital Brief and The Australian report a longer roster also including Ten13, Deepwater, Dumm Capital, Paspalis Capital, UNSW and angel investors. Founded out of UNSW in 2017, HEO uses cameras aboard other satellites plus its own sensors to photograph and assess the condition of spacecraft in orbit.

Kinoxis Therapeutics, $6.75 million, dementia treatment biotech

Kinoxis raised $6.75 million in equity funding, plus a $2.5 million grant from the Medical Research Future Fund, taking the total to $9.25 million. The equity round was led by deep tech VC Main Sequence, with Uniseed, UniSuper, the University of Sydney, Stoic VC and Avicella Capital also participating. A Sydney University spinout founded in 2017, Kinoxis is developing brain-penetrant small-molecule treatments for agitation associated with dementia.

Medcast, $5.4 million, AI clinical knowledge platform for GPs

Medcast raised $5.4 million to grow MedLuma, its AI clinical knowledge platform for Australian clinicians. The round was led by Queensland medical software business Best Practice Software. Founded in 2013 in Bowral by Dr Stephen Barnett and Justin Lewis, Medcast has delivered clinical education to more than 100,000 registered healthcare professionals.

OpenDebt, $2 million, AI debt recovery fintech

Sydney fintech OpenDebt raised $2 million in a pre-seed round backed by Blackbird Ventures and Antler Australia, as it eyes expansion into the US market. Founded by former Westpac data and AI executive Norman Yan with Jonas Tischer, OpenDebt uses AI agents to handle multichannel debt recovery conversations.