Blackbird singing
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There was a renewed sense of optimism at FinTech Australia 's Intersekt25 conference this week, coinciding with a general feeling that venture capital is back.
Blackbird released annual data showing it had delivered a net internal rate of return of 36.09% across its discretionary funds, eclipsing its earlier peak in 2022 before the market downturn. “After a few years of many flat and sometimes down valuations since the boom times of 2021, it feels like the startup ecosystem is back to growth,” said Rick Baker , one of Blackbird’s founding partners.
The uplift in Blackbird’s portfolio was largely supported by its decision to increase Canva ’s valuation following US design platform Figma’s successful IPO. Other contributors included AI-first startups Lorikeet and medical scribe platform Heidi Health .
AI hype in Australia’s startup sector is hard to ignore, and it was a core theme at Intersekt25. Startups are now scaling revenue faster than in the pre-AI era, and with fewer staff. This is shifting how and where startups look for capital when they need it.
While some sceptics argue the AI boom is bound to fizzle, the funding environment appears to be thawing and pointing to something brighter.
Seeking Council
After years of juggling disparate causes, the Tech Council of Australia has found in artificial intelligence a high-stakes issue to rally around.
At last year’s National Tech Summit, one Victorian MP referred to “A1” — presumably meaning “artificial 1ntelligence”. A year on, MPs including Tim Ayres , Andrew Leigh, Andrew Charlton , and Katy Gallagher all spoke emphatically about seizing the AI opportunity.
It helps that council chair Scott Farquhar has become one of the most vocal figures on AI. At the summit, he expressed disappointment that 104 countries have national AI plans, but Australia is not among them. He also urged investment in digital embassies and data centres, though his controversial push for looser copyright laws went unmentioned this time.
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Senior ANZ Plus staff exit as Nuno Matos shifts tech strategy
ANZ has made sweeping cuts to the team behind its billion-dollar ANZ Plus consumer app, in a move to scrap the bank’s dual platform strategy and integrate features back into its legacy Classic system. Chief executive Nuno Matos and chair Paul O’Sullivan confirmed on an investor call that the bank would not scrap ANZ Plus altogether, but insiders warn the transition could be costly and complex.
This change comes amid wider restructuring at ANZ as well as a record-breaking $240 million penalty from ASIC for widespread misconduct. ANZ “unreservedly” apologised for its actions, but on its call with investors it also emphasised that there had been “no loss for the Commonwealth” from the bond trading scandal at the centre of the penalty.
ASIC chair Joe Longo disagreed when asked by Capital Brief, saying: “That is not ASIC’s position. ASIC’s position is, the Commonwealth did suffer a loss of around $26 million.” He described ANZ’s behaviour as “grubby” and suggested the bank had not learned its lesson.
Employment Hero v Seek is heading to trial — and investors will be watching
A Federal Court judge this week ruled that the dispute between Employment Hero and SEEK will proceed to trial. The case centres on Employment Hero’s claim that Seek broke competition laws by denying it crucial access to its API.
The high-stakes legal battle has caught the attention of startups and ASX investors. Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew McLeod told clients last week he is monitoring it closely, adding the dispute may have even distracted from Seek’s recent results, which he viewed as among the best on the ASX this reporting season.
Roberts brothers cash out $99m in IREN victory lap
Former Macquarie Group VPs Daniel Roberts and Will Roberts each sold one million IREN shares last week, SEC filings show, pocketing USD33 million ($49.5 million) apiece.
IREN’s stock has surged 50% since 8 September, when it announced the purchase of around 9,000 NVIDIA Blackwell chips for its AI data centre services. The rally pushed its market value past USD10 billion. The share sale marks a high point for IREN, which began as a Bitcoin miner and at times looked unlikely to survive the crypto winter.
'We haven't seen a breakthrough': Salesforce AI chief unimpressed by OpenAI's latest model
OpenAI has called its latest large language model a “significant leap in intelligence”. Salesforce chief of AI research Silvio Savarese told Capital Brief he isn’t so sure. He said GPT-5 offers only modest improvements, with gains in coding ability but little progress in long-term planning or complex reasoning. He echoed Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff ’s scepticism about the costly AI arms race.
Rather than chase artificial general intelligence like its Silicon Valley peers, Salesforce is pursuing “enterprise general intelligence” — AI that can consistently perform business-related tasks.
Verbatim of the week
I’ve said, and others have said, that we will not have net zero at any cost, because the cost can be too high.
– Liberal leader Sussan Ley speaking at a CEDA lunch, as pressure ramps up within the Coalition to ditch or water down net zero.
This is a condensed summary of The Edition, our flagship weekday newsletter, and your afternoon debrief on the biggest stories across Capital Brief. Sign up now.
Finding the best accounting & finance talent for CEOs & CFOs across Retail, FMCG, Tech and Healthcare in Australia | PE & VC Specialist | Co-Founder & Director at 4DTalent
6dI can imagine pulling out 'The Canva Effect' is half the battle in evaluating the performance at Blackbird! AI startups are clearly starting to gain some momentum in the space now though.