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Welcome to another edition of 🔍 Startup Researcher - Oceania, your essential digest delivering the latest news and premium insights on startups and venture capital across the region 🌍
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📰 Important News
- Employment Hero and SEEK settled their legal dispute, restored API access, and dropped antitrust claims, easing tensions over HR tech platform power.
- Linktree cut 2024 losses to A$19 million from A$62 million as revenue rose 50%, driven by cost discipline, acquisitions, and new product launches.
- Vaxxas named former Merck executive David Peacock as CEO to accelerate global commercialization of its HD-MAP platform.
- Antler-backed Sydney fintech Quantflo entered voluntary liquidation on Jan 7, 2026 after failing to secure enough institutional customers.
- Autohand AI became a Microsoft ISV, bringing its learning-driven AI coding platform Autohand Evolve to Azure enterprise customers.
💸 Top Funding Rounds
- Global brokerage firm HabitTrade has completed a Series A funding round of nearly A$14.9 million led by Newborn Town to strengthen its brokerage services and support its global market expansion.
💰️ IPO and M&A Watch
- GTreasury acquired no-code financial automation provider Solvexia to expand its platform and automate reconciliation and regulatory reporting for treasury and finance teams.
🏦 About Investors
- Western Australia opened Round 4 of its Clean Energy Future Fund on Jan 6, 2026, offering A$100,000 to A$4 million grants to support clean energy startups and demonstration projects across the state.
🚀 Startup of the Week
Introducing our Startup of the Week 🏆
HabitTrade
Founded in 2021, HabitTrade is a global fintech brokerage platform focused on simplifying access to traditional and tokenized capital markets. The company offers end-to-end services spanning trading infrastructure, settlement, custody, and asset issuance, including stablecoin-based settlement for off-chain assets and access to U.S. and Hong Kong equities. HabitTrade recently raised nearly A$14.9 million in a Series A round led by Newborn Town, with backing from Bright Venture Capital and StableStock, to accelerate international expansion and strengthen compliance capabilities. Led by founder and CEO Daniel, HabitTrade is scaling regulated brokerage services across more than 150 markets, aiming to bridge bilateral capital markets through compliant, efficient financial infrastructure.
💼 Investor of the Week
Introducing our Investor of the Week 🏆
Clean Energy Future Fund
Launched by the Western Australian Government, the Clean Energy Future Fund is a public-sector investor focused on accelerating innovative clean energy projects across Western Australia. Administered by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation with support from Energy Policy WA, the fund backs projects that deliver measurable emissions reductions, energy resilience, and long-term community value. With total funding expanded to A$37 million through 2030–31, the fund recently opened Round 4, allocating around A$9 million to support emerging technologies across renewables, storage, electrification, and industrial decarbonization. By prioritizing regional impact, Indigenous participation, and local manufacturing, the Clean Energy Future Fund plays a catalytic role in WA’s clean energy transition.
🤑 Opportunities Expiring Soon
Scale Your High-Tech Vision with ExciteLab
- 📢 Organizer: ExciteLab
- 🗂️ Category: Award/Prize, Funding, Accelerator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Pre-seed, Seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: DeepTech
- 📅 Application Deadline: January 13, 2026
RIOT Startup Accelerator
- 📢 Organizer: RIOT
- 🗂️ Category: Accelerator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Stage Agnostic
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Sector Agnostic
- 📅 Application Deadline: January 16, 2026
LACI Startup Programs
- 📢 Organizer: Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI)
- 🗂️ Category: Incubator, Funding
- 🪜 Target Stages: Pre-seed, Seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Energy & Environment
- 📅 Application Deadline: January 16, 2026
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