One of the rising stars of Australia’s artificial intelligence startups, Relevance AI, was named Startup of the Year at the Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards 2025.
The win for the Sydney startup, which is pioneering the future of work through agentic AI, with a platform that lets anyone build a team of AI agents, came after taking home the AI Gamechanger award earlier in the evening.
The gala dinner with more than 200 guests at Sydney’s ivy Ballroom was a celebration of the national startup ecosystem, with founders and winners from Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, NSW and Victoria.
Once again, several awards went to women leading the way, including LaunchVic-backed Press Play Ventures, which took out The GSD Award for its role in helping Victorian women become entrepreneurs, with 120 women who’ve taken part in the program going on to launch 104 startups.
Paz Pisarski, founder of The Community Collective, which trains people to be community builders, was named the Future Leader of the Year, while Best New Founder went to Rebecca Keeley, founder of speech pathology app Yarn Speech.
Startup Daily editor Simon Thomsen kept the celebrations going as the event host, while keynote speaker Dr Ian Oppermann, a global thought leader on the digital economy and serial founder, spoke of his experience as a data scientist and his role in creating 3G and 4G – the foundation technology for mobile communications.
Thomsen said the third annual awards set a new record with more than 270 nominations, whittled down to 56 finalists and winners across 14 categories.
“Selection criteria was based on key achievements, level of impact and tech innovation, and how they’re contributing to making the world a better place,” he said.
“Diversity, equity and inclusion are central to Startup Daily’s ethos. That’s why entry to the awards is free, and we offer our finalists a complimentary ticket to be part of the fun. We want to include founders just starting out.”
Thomsen added he was pleased to see women and diverse founders well-represented among the finalists and winners.
“One of the guests said they were pleasantly surprised by the number of women in the room for tech awards. I replied that ‘It’s not by accident, but by design. If you have the will, it can be done’,” he shared.
Crowd favourite among the 14 winners was Clayton Franklin, a Western Australian Indigenous founder covering mining trucks to electrification. Wearing his trademark cattleman’s hat with a red herd tag on the back, his climate tech startup, Electric Power Conversions Australia, won Most Innovative Startup, and he shared news that they’d just signed a major deal with Qatar to convert their truck fleets.
The Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards 2025 were supported by major partner AWS Startups, with supporting partner Vanta. Award partners include Carta, techvisa, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, Tank Stream Labs, The Nudge Group and The Pillars, with Smart Company, Fishburners and Startup&Angels as community partners.
Here is the full list of winners from the Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards 2025:
Asseti – Scaleup of the Year
Supported by AWS Startups
Asseti uses AI to analyse visual data at scale, transforming asset and facility management. The company is already on pace to exceed $10 million ARR by the end of 2025, achieving that landmark after raising just $2.5m in capital.
Asseti won an 8-figure multi-year deal with Walmart, beating well-funded competitors, without a US team on the ground. and also signed Meta for condition data across its global data centre network.
The company is now cash flow neutral and now looking to raise a Series A.
Relevance AI – Startup of the Year
Supported by Vanta
Relevance AI gives teams the power to hire digital teammates – AI agents that can act autonomously, handle complexity, and scale operational excellence.
Unlike traditional automation tools that rely on rigid logic and developer-led builds, the Relevance platform empowers subject-matter experts to create, manage, and collaborate with AI agents without writing code.
Electric Power Conversions Australia (EPCA) – Most Innovative Startup
Supported by Tank Stream Labs
EPCA is the first Australian company to retrofit a 100-tonne mining haul truck from diesel to full battery-electric. Proudly Aboriginal-owned and operated by Clayton Franklin, EPCA is leading the decarbonisation of the Western Australian mining fleets, removing emissions from operations and manufacturing, where most carbon is already embedded. Retrofitting offers a faster, lower-cost, and more sustainable route to electrification, keeping valuable assets in service while aligning with ESG targets.
Cauldron Ferm – Best Regional Startup
Supported by Carta
It’s back-to-back wins for Cauldron Ferm, which also winner the 2024 Best Regional Startup award. Cauldron is pioneering the next frontier in biomanufacturing to transform how everything from food to fibres, animal feed, fuels, and more are created.
Over the past year under founder Michelle Stansfield, the regional NSW biotech received federal and Queensland government funding to build a biomanufacturing facility in the tropical north.
Relevance AI – AI Gamechanger
Supported by AWS Startups
This is the second award for Sydney startup is pioneering the future of work through agentic AI, not chatbots or copilots. The platform lets anyone build a team of AI agents and in May this year, announced a $37 million Series B raise led by Bessemer Venture Partners.
Mick Liubinskas – Industry Champion
Supported by Smart Company
Climate Salad, a community of 700 climate tech companies and 10,000 supporters, is the latest adventure for one of the pioneers of Australia’s startup sector, Mick Liubinskas.
Mick founded four startups, plus incubators and accelerators with Pollenizer, Startmate and muru-D. He’s a believer that Australia will play a huge role in building climate solutions and also been a strong advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion. He’s written two books – most importantly, She’s Building A Robot, a novel to inspire teenage girls into the world of STEM.
Watch and listen to Mick on the latest episode of our podcast, Startup 360, right here.
Xefco – Best Sustainability Startup
The textile industry is one of the world’s most polluting sectors, responsible for 20% of global industrial water pollution and 3% of global carbon emissions.
Xefco is solving this problem at its source. Their breakthrough technology eliminates the need for water, steam, and hazardous chemicals in dyeing and finishing: leading to zero wastewater, reducing GHG emissions by 94%, and cutting chemical use by 97%.
It also improves workplace safety and enables just-in-time manufacturing, to reduce overproduction and textile waste.
Cell Bauhaus – Best New Idea
Supported by Fishburners
The mission at Cell Bauhaus is to bring computer-aided design to biology, allowing engineers to test and refine biological systems computationally before building them, dramatically reducing both time-to-market and development costs.
The implications are far reaching – predictive biological design could accelerate development of safer greener bio-chemistries, drought-resistant crops, and personalised therapeutics from decades to years.
Rebecca Keeley, Yarn Speech – Best New Founder
Supported by Nudge Group
Darwin-raised Rebecca is a speech pathologist who dedicated her career to making healthcare more accessible, particularly for families in rural and remote areas.
She launched Yarn Speech in 2024, a first-of-its-kind digital solution and app, reshaping how Australian families access vital speech pathology services, redesigning how allied health services are delivered across Australia in the process.
What sets Bec apart is her unique combination of clinical expertise and entrepreneurial vision. Yarn Speech is co-designed with clinicians, for clinicians and families so families have the tools to be active participants in their child’s development.
Sumith Jitta, Lawpath – Best Technical Leader
Sumith Jitta is the head of engineering at Lawpath and the visionary architect behind one of Australia’s most transformative legaltech platforms.
With two decades of experience spanning AI, data architecture, and enterprise platforms, Sumith has led Lawpath’s evolution from a promising startup into a scalable, AI-driven legal infrastructure engine powering more than 500,000 Australian businesses.
What sets Sumith apart is his ability to bridge engineering with empathy. He leads a team of over 30 engineers, product designers, and data scientists with a calm clarity, unblocking complexity while fostering a culture of innovation and integrity.
Paz Pisarski – Future Leader
Supported by techvisa
Paz has turned an idea during Melbourne’s lockdowns into a movement that’s reshaping Australia’s startup ecosystem and the world. What started as a 17-person meetup has evolved into The Community Collective, now has a global audience of more than 16,000 and 700+ communities across 18 countries.
Paz created Australia’s first live cohort training program for community builders, legitimising what was once seen as “fluffy” work into recognised strategic expertise.
_Southstart – Startup Event of The Year
_Southstart is one of Australia’s longest-running and most loved innovation festivals, born in 2013 to bridge the emotional, relational, and structural gaps in the startup journey. The 3-day Adelaide gathering that delves into heart and mind, as well as plenty of South Australia’s finest wines.
As Josh Garratt, CEO of Southern Angels said: “_Southstart has built a cathedral to human connection. This isn’t a conference, it’s a pilgrimage for startups and investors who are passionate about changing the world together.”
Euphemia– Startup Investor of the Year
Supported by The Pillars
Euphemia is on a mission to Go Big and Grow Home, and its secret mission is to create more “Euphemias” by backing people they believe will reinvest their capital back into the ecosystem down the track. Dom Pym and his team under CEO Judy Anderson-Firth invest in fintech, climate tech, women-led ventures, and startup infrastructure, unlocking capital through a 245+ strong Euphemia Syndicate on Aussie Angels, and new fintech fund, Triple Bubble.
In the 18 months leading up to nomination, Euphemia invested nearly $2 million in 14 companies across 21 transactions, including: leading 2 x Euphemia Syndicate deals and backing 7 new startups.
As Heatseeker cofounder Kate O’Keefe said: “Euphemia wasn’t just our first cheque, they were our first believer.”
Press Play Ventures – The GSD Award
Supported by Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
Press Play Ventures, launched in 2024 with support from LaunchVic, has helped 120 women to launch 104 startups, driving a 12% uplift in the number of women founders in Victoria compared to 2023. Press Play’s 12-week pre-accelerator helps women transition from employment into entrepreneurship through fully-funded and partial scholarships, zero equity, and hands-on, high-touch support.
It’s alumni are 65% mid-career women over 35, 62% multicultural, and 73% new to startups.
Thank you to our Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards 2025 partners:
