Seven ANZ startups raise $71.8m as Phonely lands $22m and.au defers IPO
Seven Australian and New Zealand startups pulled in $71.8 million in fresh capital this week, with AI, fintech and deep tech deals anchoring the activity. The largest rounds included a $22 million Series A for AI receptionist startup Phonely and a $20 million private placement by B2B payments platform.au, which deferred a planned IPO.
Y Combinator doubled down on University of Melbourne spin-out Phonely in the $22 million Series A led by Base10 Partners. The round also included YC and three enterprise customers — Etech Global Services, customer experience platform TSA Group, and Engage CX — among others.
YC had previously backed the business with a $750,000 raise in mid-2024. The new capital values Phonely at $139 million, bringing total funding to more than $26 million. Founded in 2023 by PhD AI researcher Will Bodewes and Nisal Ranasinghe, and now based in San Francisco, the startup builds AI receptionists that draw on a company’s website to answer FAQs, route calls and book appointments, with setup taking about five minutes.
Phonely says it now handles millions of calls per month across thousands of businesses, and one customer replaced 350 human agents in a month using the platform. Bodewes has likened the tool to a business-ready version of Iron Man’s voice assistant.
In fintech,.au paused its initial public offering amid share market volatility linked to the war in the Middle East, opting instead for a $20 million private raise that values the business at $750 million. The company had been tipped to pursue an ASX listing this month.
In a term sheet sent to investors, directors said an IPO in the “immediate” future was “not in the best interests of shareholders.” A spokesperson confirmed the planned listing has been deferred and said the business will continue to assess ASX opportunities. On the deep tech front, Auckland-based Atomic Tessellator closed an $11.3 million seed round at a valuation of roughly $50 million to develop alternatives to rare earth materials.
Crane Venture Partners led the round, with participation from In-Q-Tel, Icehouse Ventures, Outset Ventures and GD1. Existing backers Salus Ventures, Side Stage Ventures and US-based Confluent returned. Founded by former Google engineer Alain Richardt, the six-person company runs a “digital laboratory” that combines quantum physics and AI to design materials for defence, semiconductor and aerospace uses.
Its flagship, a magnet material dubbed Vireon and designed using elements mined in Australia, is claimed to outperform rare-earth-based magnets. The company says its platform can compress materials discovery timelines from years to weeks and has more than 20 additional candidate materials in development, including radiation-resistant and high‑temperature alloys.
The funding will help expand the team and build in-house lab and alloy production capabilities. New Zealand–born Caruso, an AI-based registry and fund administration platform, raised $9.3 million in a Series A at an $80 million valuation. The round was led by Icehouse Ventures and GD1.
Other deals contributing to the week’s total included funding rounds for Deteqt, Clean State Clinic and Earthletica. The combined roster underscores investor appetite for AI-driven business tools and advanced materials even as public-market jitters temper listing plans..au said it will revisit an ASX debut as conditions improve.