Gridsight, Pearler and Apate.AI led a busy week of Sydney startup funding, with energy management and AI security platforms capturing the largest cheques.
Tech & Ideas Desk is a contributing writer covering tech and public affairs for The Sydney Times.
Sydney-based startups raised almost the entire $67.2 million secured by ANZ ventures in the first week of September 2026, with energy management, retail investing and AI security platforms drawing the largest institutional commitments.
Gridsight, the Sydney-founded energy network management platform, raised US$26 million (AU$36 million) in a Series B round led by Insight Partners, with support from Galvanize and existing investors Airtree, Energy Transition Ventures and Aera VC. The raise follows a $7.5 million Series A 16 months earlier led by Airtree, with cricketer Pat Cummins among the notable investors.
Founded in Sydney in 2020, Gridsight now operates across Australia, New Zealand, the US and UK. Its customers include Endeavour Energy, which used the platform's real-time solar management to double household solar export capacity from 5kW to 10kW in a program expected to unlock more than $100 million in value for customers and 600MW of additional solar capacity for the grid. The platform uses AI to manage congestion on distribution networks as rooftop solar and electric vehicle charging pile demand onto infrastructure not designed for two-way power flows.
The round illustrates a clear investor appetite for climate-tech startups solving operational problems rather than building speculative hardware. Gridsight's value proposition is that existing grid infrastructure can carry significantly more renewable energy if managed dynamically, deferring the need for costly network upgrades. For more on Australian energy and technology, see Tech & Ideas.
Sydney-based investing platform Pearler raised $16 million in Series A funding to roll out a suite of new financial products over the next 18 months. The round was led by Canada's Portage Ventures, which also backed Pearler in its $7.8 million seed round in 2022, alongside New Zealand-based Altered Capital and Sydney-based family office No Brand.
Pearler operates a micro-investing and portfolio management platform aimed at retail investors. The new capital will support product development beyond its existing share and ETF offering, though the company has not disclosed specific product categories. The raise comes as the retail investing market in Australia matures, with platforms competing on fees, user experience and financial education rather than acquisition discounts.
Eucalyptus co-founder Charlie Gearside and FIG veteran Chris Cuffe's Partners Horizon Fund also tipped into Pearler's Series A, signalling continued confidence from experienced founders and operators in the platform's unit economics. According to the AFR Pearler coverage, the raise reflects growing institutional interest in Australian-built fintechs with proven retention metrics.
Apate.AI, the Sydney-born AI platform used by the Commonwealth Bank to engage with and gather intelligence on scammers, raised US$8.15 million (AU$11.4 million) in a seed round led by Silicon Valley VC Lobby Capital, with support from OIF Ventures, Investible, Concept Ventures and Baobab Ventures. The company has relocated to the US, incorporating as a Delaware company, while keeping its technology and research teams in Sydney.
Apate.AI previously raised $2.5 million led by OIF Ventures a year ago. It now has operations in Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa, with a London office opening next quarter to serve the European market. Co-founder and chief product officer Peter Eckermann will relocate to the US to lead North American expansion, while the tech and research teams remain Sydney-based.
The platform deploys AI bots that interact with scammers to gather intelligence on fraud tactics, sharing that intelligence with financial institutions and law enforcement. The Commonwealth Bank partnership provides a reference customer in one of the world's most regulated banking markets, which Apate.AI is using to pitch global banks. According to the Smartcompany Apate.AI coverage, the relocation reflects a pattern of Australian AI startups seeking US capital while keeping R&D in Sydney.
Ten Australian startups shared $1 million in equity-free funding from Airwallex under the first cohort of its Latitude 37 program. Each startup received $100,000, with access to Airwallex's customer network and support including on-site visits to Singapore and San Francisco. The cohort spans robotics, on-road hazard detection and financial services, with successful applicants including Polarbear AI, SeatFinder, Superstat, AXIOMS, Blank Robotics, Dreamscale Labs, Forward, Geospan, Kronus and SyncPay.
The funding week also included smaller raises from Auckland-based Drumbeat ($1.64 million seed) and Victorian biotech GonGlobal ($1.2 million), but Sydney's dominance was clear: Gridsight, Pearler and Apate.AI alone accounted for $63.4 million of the $67.2 million raised across ANZ. The concentration reflects Sydney's growing position as a destination for climate-tech and regulated-industry software investment, with venture capital firms increasingly making the city their first or only Australian port of call.
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