Medical technology was a major theme in startup funding this week, with Synchron and Lumonus AI raising hundreds of millions for their forward-thinking solutions.
We also counted funding deals from Australian startups that have found new ways to clean ships, improve cattle breeding, provide gifts, and support parents and carers of neurodivergent children.
Keep reading to learn more about Synchron, Lumonus AI, Hullbot, Cytophenix, Nbryo, Giftbee, Understanding Zoe, and Zeligate.
Synchron: $305 million (inc. $54m from the NRF)
The federal government’s $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund has invested $54 million in Australian founder brain-computer-interface (BCI) medical devices company Synchron as part of a $305 million (US$200 million) Series D round.
Synchron was spun out of the University of Melbourne by co-founders Dr Tom Oxley, professor Nicholas Opie, and Dr Rahul Sharma in 2012. The company is now US-based.
A collaboration with researchers in partnership with the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Synchron has developed the Stentrode, a BCI device that will enable severely paralysed people to control digital devices with their thoughts.
The device doesn’t require open brain surgery and instead mimics the approach used in cardiovascular stents, significantly reducing patient recovery time.
The Stentrode rivals Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink in helping people translate brain activity into digital commands. Musk reportedly tried to cut a deal with Synchron in 2022 as his own company struggled to deliver on its ambitions.
Stentrode BCIs have been placed in 10 patients with paralysis to date, across clinical trials in the US and Australia.
Read more onStartup Daily.
Lumonus AI: $25 million
As artificial intelligence becomes ever more enmeshed in the healthcare system, Sydney’s Lumonus AI has raised $25 million in funding to support its radiation oncology systems.
Chilean private investment firm Aviron Investment Management led the Series B round, which saw contributions from return investor Oncology Ventures.
The company offers two flagship products: Physician, an automated assistant helping practitioners summarise consultation data, organise documents, and review patient data, and Dosimetry, a platform where professionals can plan and coordinate oncology care.
Lumonus AI says these tools can help specialists focus on delivering the care their patients need while reducing administrative burdens.
The firm claims to have helped physicians with the consultation and prescription of 280,000 cancer treatments, with its automation playing a role in 75,000 treatment plans to date.
Hullbot: $16 million
Hull cleaning robotics startup Hullbot has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round.
The investment was led by US-based Regeneration VC with support from Climate Tech Partners, marking the first investment from its new fund backing technologies for emissions reduction in hard-to-abate industries. The round also saw participation from Katapult Ocean, Folklore, Trinity Ventures, Rypples, NewSouth Innovations, and Bandera Capital.
The Sydney maritime startup recently won the Australian Good Design Award of the Year for its autonomous hull-cleaning robot, which reduces ship fuel consumption by 10–26% by reducing biofouling – plants, algae, barnacles and molluscs, which grow on the hull – and create drag.
Hullbot has delivered more than 1,000 paid hull cleans for ferry operators and small cruise vessels globally, preventing more than 3,600 tonnes of CO₂ emissions.
The veteran startup was founded in 2014 by CEO Tom Loefler and CTO Karl Watfern. It’s been through Startmate, was part of UNSW Founders 10x defence accelerator, and more recently joined KPMG High Growth Ventures.
The funds will be used on Australian-built robotics production, developing larger robotic platforms, and expanding its service hubs internationally.
Nbryo: $10 million
Queensland agtech startup Nbryo has raised $10 million for its livestock genetics platform.
The agri-biotech is developing a bovine IVF platform to deliver scalable, high-quality outcomes for cattle producers globally.
The round was co-led by existing investor Tenacious Ventures and Kiwi government-backed new believer AgriZeroNZ. The Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), founding investor Euan Murdoch and Mandalay Venture Partners also participated in the round.
This raise also triggered the conversion of $12.3 million of the SAFE notes, bringing the total to more than $22 million raised since 2024.
Nbryo, along with its research partners, also scored $18 million in grant funding for research and development from the Gates Foundation, Meat and Livestock Australia and other state and federal programs.
The new funds will be used to develop Nbryo’s proprietary IVF platform, expand its commercial IVF and Embryo Transfer services, launch embryo multiplication tech and its embryo transfer device, to launch in October 2026.
Cytophenix: $1.3 million
Cytophenix, an infection management medtech using rapid antimicrobial susceptibility tests to quickly identify effective antibiotics for patients, has raised $1.3 million in pre-seed funding.
Founded in 2023 by a team of expert researchers, clinicians, and engineers, including Dr Kieran Mulroney, Dr Christine Carson, Sherief Khorshid, Teagan Paton, James Telders and Tim Inglis, Cytophenix is a spin-out from The Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and the University of Western Australia, based at the Centre for Entrepreneurial Research and Innovation in Perth.
The antimicrobial susceptibility tests (AST) technology can be life-saving for people with serious infections, such as bloodstream infections that cause sepsis, because administering the right antibiotic is time-critical.
Every hour without the right antibiotic results in around a 9% increased risk of death. The rapid AST results – saving 1-3 days – give doctors certainty about the best antibiotic to use, also reducing misuse and overuse, as well as the growing global threat of antimicrobial resistance.
Its AST product, FloCAST, is a rapid antimicrobial susceptibility test that provides answers days faster than existing tests.
Read more onStartup Daily.
Giftbee: $1 million
Melbourne-based gifting platform Giftbee raised $1 million in a recent seed funding round, led by Antler.
Brisbane Angels and other private investors also participated in the round, which Giftbee founder and CEO Mark Singer plans to use to drive his mission to fix Australia’s billion-dollar gifting crisis.
Singer founded Giftbee in 2024 to give businesses and consumers more sustainable, flexible and simpler ways to give and receive gifts.
He told SmartCompany the new funding will largely go towards product, technology and go-to-market activity.
The investment also gives Giftbee access to Antler “as a partner within the business”, says Singer.
“They have an exceptional team of operators who have launched, scaled and led billion-dollar companies themselves. So there’s a lot of operating experience that we can draw an immense amount of value from,” he says.
Understanding Zoe: $770,000
Understanding Zoe has secured $770,000 (US$500,000) from a leading US health-tech investment fund to expand its platform that helps parents and carers support neurodivergent children.
The investment has come from Verge HealthTech Fund, which backs early-stage health-tech startups worldwide.
Understanding Zoe founders Laetitia Andrac and Johan Erchoff were inspired to start the company after their own experience managing their daughter’s autism diagnosis, clinical assessments and therapy suggestions.
The AI-enabled app allows parents and carers to share diagnoses, day-to-day reports and observations about their child with a secure chatbot. This data is then stored and analysed, so the platform can track behaviour patterns, make suggestions for parents and prepare notes and briefings that can be shared with others involved in the child’s care.
Understanding Zoe plans to use the new funding to build out the startup’s offering and fund research into the market.
“Verge’s belief in our mission allows us to scale a solution built from lived experience: one that turns daily overwhelm into coordinated, neuroaffirming care,” said Andrac.
Zeligate: $500,000
Gold Coast AI workforce startup Zeligate has raised $500,000 in a seed round.
DNX Ventures, a Californian B2B early-stage VC, led the raise for its first local investment.
Zeligate will look to raise a Series A in 12 months to end 2026.
Founded in 2023 by CEO Denver Naidoo, Zeligate’s AI tools help people “manage the mundane” at work so they can spend more time thinking, communicating and innovating. It enables organisations to automate entire processes, not just isolated tasks to boost productivity across a range of business functions.
The seed funding will accelerate product expansion, marketing, and sales activities nationally with a focus on increasing awareness and adoption of its flagship AI product, led by the ‘hiring co-worker.’
Naidoo said the partnership with DNX Ventures is a significant endorsement of the company’s mission, having relocated from Brisbane to the Gold Coast earlier this year.
“DNX’s decision to make us its first Australian investment is a testament to the hard work of our team and the massive potential of our AI workforce, which we call Zelis,” he said.
Read more on Startup Daily.
