2025年澳大利亚风险投资与初创企业报告

Benchmarking capital, outliers, andecosystem evolution July 2025 Foreword The numbers tell a powerful story. Australia has created the fifth mostdecacorns in the world behind only the U.S., China, U.K. and Israel. It boaststhe highest unicorn efficiency ratio of any country globally.And yet, thenumber of active seed funds remains far below that of less productiveecosystems and nearly 40% of early-stage capital is imported from overseasinvestors. Australia, long underestimated by global venture capital, is now emerging asone of the strongest and most capital-efficient startup ecosystems in theworld. With just a fraction of the funding deployed in the U.S. or Europe,Australia has built household names like Canva, Atlassian, and Afterpay andnowleads the world in unicorn creation per dollar invested. But itʼs not just about doing more with less. Itʼs about the calibre of ourfounders - ambitious, resilient, and globally minded from day one. Manyhave succeeded despite structural constraints, including limited seed capitaland a small domestic market. The Australian startup ecosystem wasnʼt builton abundance, it was forged through ingenuity, grit, and creative constraint. Thatʼs the opportunity. Australia is dramatically under-capitalised relative toits output. For LPs and global investors, that means high-quality entry pointsand highly efficient capital deployment - in one of the worldʼs most dynamicandinventiveregions. Thisfoundation is now being reinforced by a maturing ecosystem.Australiaʼsworld-class universities,strong research infrastructure,andtechnical education pipelines have helped develop a globally competitivetalent pool. A growing cohort of experienced operators, many alumni ofrecent success stories, are now reinvesting their skills and capital into thenextgeneration. The question is no longer whether Australia can build great companies.Itʼs how many and how fast.” Today, we stand at a turning point. This report - produced in collaborationwith Dealroom, AWS, and Side Stage Ventures - benchmarks Australiaʼsventure performance against the worldʼs leading ecosystems. It shines alight on how far weʼve come, and how much untapped potential stillremains. Ben GrabinerCo-Founder & General Partner atSide Stage Ventures Colette GrgicHead of Startup Ecosystem atAmazon Web Services What you need to know Australia is #5 indecacorn creationglobally The Australian techecosystem is the #2fastest growing globally Australia is #1 in unicornscreated per VC dollarinvested Australian startups have deliveredworld-class liquidity through globallyscaled, capital-efficient companies. Australiaʼs combined ecosystem valuenow stands at $360B, growing 2.5x since2020 Australia has produced 1.22 unicorns forevery $1B invested 1Australian Tech Value Creation 2Funding Trends and Market Dynamics Australiaʼs techsector hasgenerated $360Bin value — up6.5x since 2018 Australia ranks#2 globally forecosystem valuegrowth since2020 Australiaʼs edge: building world-class outliers with less capitalHome to 6 decacorns and ranked #5 globally, despite raising <$34B in VC since 2000. Australia is #1 inunicorn creationper dollarinvested 1.22 unicorns for every $1Binvested Australia ranks#8 globally forVC-backed exitvalue since 2020 Even without Canva'sexpected IPO Australiaʼs unicorns have paved the way for a new generation of breakout startups. A maturingecosystem and robust pipeline are now fuelling the next wave of venture-scale companies High net worth individuals and familiesare increasingly adopting largerallocations to private markets inportfolios, and venture within that iscertainly gaining prominence, especiallytoday given overwhelming interest in AIrelated businesses. For global allocators, Australia offers arare combination: capital efficiency,globally ambitious founders, and adeep pipeline of innovation in AI,energy, and deep tech. But the real opportunity lies at the seed stage - where fund sizes aresmaller, valuations are materially lower than in the U.S. and Europe,and competition is limited. This is where the next generation ofbreakout companies is already being funded. As these startups scale,later-stage capital will inevitably follow. The opportunity is backingthe funds that spot these outliers early and help shape the next waveof global tech leaders." Australia is often underappreciated having matured massively over thepast decade. The Australian tech sector is now the 3rd largest contributorto GDP, yet venture funding (as % of GDP) is well below other developedmarket peers, this being in spite of the marketʼs increasing ability toproduce world-class start-ups, and seed valuations historically sitting atmeaningful discounts to the US. Australian Venture presents a clearopportunity in (global) portfolios and high net worth individuals andfamilies are uniquely positioned to take advantage.” Phil CumminsManaging Director Martin RandallHead of Private Markets 1Australian Tech Value Creation 2Fundin