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Welcome to this week’s standup! On the board today:
The AFC Census opens today - five minutes, and it's the first number AFC's ever had on itself in this ecosystem.
Oz2US is bringing a free U.S. expansion masterclass to Melbourne on 18 August(!!!!!!)
Life After Launch Ep 3 is here: Kirstin Hunter on the moment the investment maths stopped being abstract
The top 5 startup stories this week, including Firmus's $2.85b raise
4 new members introduced themselves in Slack this week
Before the Job Ad, the next AFC meetup in Melbourne
Plus the ecosystem events happening over the next fortnight
The AFC Census 2026!
The ABS is counting the country today. The government reckons you can't run a place properly without knowing who's actually in it and what's happening to them and whilst I’d argue a lot with them, this point is hard to argue!
So we're doing the same for this community. From today, the AFC Census runs every August.
Five minutes, nearly all taps. It asks how you're really feeling about building here right now, whether you'd still be doing it in Australia in three years, what the CGT changes mean for you personally, what AI has done to the way you build and hire, and what you want us to build next.
Here's the part worth knowing before you scroll past. We're publishing the results, cut by stage, sector and state. That means you'll be able to see how your answers compare to founders at exactly your stage, in your sector, on the same questions.
The catch is that the report only describes the people who are in it. Fill it in and you're in the first set of numbers this community has ever had about itself, and you get them back. Skip it and in a few weeks you'll be reading a report about a room you were in and didn't get counted in. Plus, we might be building some cool things based on your thoughts and feelings, based on this data!
Preparing for U.S. expansion: free masterclass tour across 5 cities!
Oz2US is taking a free 2-hour masterclass on U.S. expansion to five cities across Australia.
It's workbook-driven, not a lecture. You'll benchmark your expansion readiness across five pillars (product, market, operations, finance, team), define your U.S. ICP and beachhead region, localise your value proposition for U.S. buyers, and map entity, HR and payroll sequencing before you commit capital.
Delivered by Robert Gallup, founder of Oz2US Ventures, and built on input from Vanta, Deel and 40+ U.S.-expansion mentors, service providers and VC advisors. Supported by Stone & Chalk, The Precinct and Spacecubed.
Built for founders, CxOs and GTM execs planning U.S. entry in the next 6-12 months. Free to attend, but seats are strictly limited and registration is subject to approval. Bring a charged laptop or tablet - you'll be working through the workbook on the day.
Cities, dates and venues:
Melbourne, 18 Aug, Stone & Chalk
Adelaide, 25 Aug, Stone & Chalk
Sydney, 1 Sept, Stone & Chalk
Brisbane, 7 Sept, The Precinct
Perth, 16 Sept, Spacecubed
You could be in this newsletter - reach 4700+ Australian Founders & Operators!
The Standup and The Startup Shortlist go out twice a week to founders, operators, and startup talent across Australia and New Zealand. Whether you're looking for a sponsored placement, want to share a job with startup talent, or have an offer or discount worth putting in front of this community - there's a spot with your name on it.
Episode 3 of LAL is out - tune in to hear Kirstin Hunter on the moment the maths stopped being abstract
In 2014 Kirstin Hunter had a new baby and was reading about what the climate reports said would happen by 2040. She worked out how old her daughter would be when it arrived. Twenty-six. That was the year she started looking for the exit from consulting.
She left Bain for an eight-person startup called Future Super, stayed four years, and became a co-founder of one of the first genuinely fossil fuel-free super funds in Australia. Then Managing Director of Techstars Australia. Now CEO of Birchal. Episode 3 covers all of it, including the part most Founders leave out.
The trinkets - the friend who told her she was spending 95% of her brain making companies richer and justifying it with the other 5%
Why she left the company she co-founded, and what the fork actually was
Across 24 Techstars companies, her last picks and her reserves were the ones that went furthest
Australia's crowdfunding regime is about eight years old and the UK's has a decade on us. Revolut's first crowdfunded investors put in around £2,000 each, and those stakes are now worth over £1 million. Kirstin runs the platform where that happens here
🎧 Listen to episode 3 → Spotify · Apple Podcasts · learn more at lifeafterlaunchpod.com
The top 5 pieces of startup news you need to know about this week!
1. AI data centre startup Firmus just raised another A$2.85 billion, at a $15 billion valuation. Nvidia, Blackstone and Jane Street are among the backers funding Project Southgate, Firmus's plan to build out AI data centres across Australia and into Asia-Pacific. The valuation has jumped from $1.85 billion just a year ago, with more than $3 billion raised in the last 12 months alone.
Reported by Simon Thomsen, Startup Daily.
2. Canva has cut its 2026 revenue growth forecast from 30% to 20% as it wrestles with the cost of running AI. CEOMelanie Perkins says the company deliberately slowed its product rollout to rebuild its architecture and bring down AI costs, which are already down 90%, while still growing revenue 25.2% year-on-year.
Reported by Simon Thomsen, Startup Daily.
3. The Coalition has called Labor's proposed renewable energy rules for AI data centres "unrealistic." The government wants new AI data centres to run on 82% renewable energy; the opposition argues that could scare off foreign investment and push up power prices, while Queensland and the NT resist a uniform national standard. One cited report puts the upside of getting AI regulation right at $116 billion in GDP and 44,000 jobs.
Reported by Jacob Shteyman and Tess Ikonomou, Startup Daily.
4. Eight Australian startups have been selected to pitch at Startup Battlefield Sydney on 19 August. The finalists, spanning AI governance, anti-fraud, physical security, workforce matching, creator marketing, personalised nutrition, video intelligence and physio automation, will compete at Stripe Tour Sydney for $15,000 in Stripe credits, investor exposure and a place in Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.
Reported by Isabelle Johannessen, TechCrunch.
5. Unlockd founder Matt Berriman has ended his eight-year antitrust battle with Google. A US appeals court rejected his case, closing the book on a fight that began when Google pulled Unlockd, once valued at $200 million, from the Play Store in 2018. Berriman called it "a hard-trodden path, both personally and professionally."
Reported by Simon Thomsen, SmartCompany.
Curated from Startup Daily, SmartCompany, TechCrunch and the Aussie Founders Club community. All figures and quotes verified against the original source article at the time of writing.
Meet AFC’s Newest Members this week!
Pulled straight from the intros over in our Slack, here are the founders, operators, and builders who joined AFC this week.
Jack Talbot - Co-Founder, Co.Credit (Sydney) - building a fintech lending business providing up to $1m in business finance to mortgage brokers without property security, and after raising a $40m institutional funding line is looking to connect with founders in fintech, SaaS and B2B navigating growth.
Sughra Shah Bukhari - Founder, women's health tech (Surry Hills, Sydney) - early-stage and pressure-testing her v1 after a career in strategic finance, offering to be a sounding board on pricing and unit economics and looking for co-builders and peers in health tech.
Hugo Bieber - Head of Partnership Recruitment, Pointer Strategy (Melbourne) - helps scaling companies build out their GTM teams and is happy to guide founders and open his network, especially around expansion into the UK and North America.
Flynn Edwards - Founder, Qubit Forge - building a learning platform to close the quantum computing talent bottleneck, offering AI automation and workflow tips, and looking to learn from B2C founders who've cracked modern marketing.
Not in there yet? Join Slack - this is where they're all hanging out.
THIS WEEK’S AFC EVENT: Don’t miss Before the Job Ad!
Date: Thursday 13th August
Time: 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: EverestEngineering, Melbourne
Food & Drinks (Pizza, Pizza, Pizza no less!) provided by EverestEngineering 🍕🥂
The rest of the Ecosystem Events happening in the next fortnight!
💬 Before the Job Ad - How Founders Build Companies People Want to Work For - hosted by Aussie Founders Club
📅 Thursday 13 August 2026, 5:30pm AEST
📍 EverestEngineering, Melbourne
All events, chronological:
💻 Less clicks, more pipeline: GTM workflows for MCP - hosted by Firmable
📅 Wednesday 12 August 2026, 12:30pm AEST
📍 Online
💬 Cremorne Connect: Building in the Cognitive Industrial Revolution - hosted by Cremorne Digital Hub
📅 Wednesday 12 August 2026, 5:30pm AEST
📍 Cremorne Digital Hub, Melbourne
🤝 Startup Networking & Branding & Marketing 101 w/ Beer Pilon - hosted by Ashish Alexander & ANNG Gallery
📅 Wednesday 12 August 2026, 5:30pm AEST
📍 ANNG Gallery, South Melbourne
🎉 Cursor Melbourne - August - hosted by Ethan Lee, Chris Rickard & Shriabhay S
📅 Wednesday 12 August 2026, 6:00pm AEST
📍 Richmond, Melbourne
🤝 The First Customers Workshop - hosted by Scotty Allen / The Product Bus
📅 Thursday 13 August 2026, 10:00am AEST
📍 Stone & Chalk Startup Hub, Melbourne
💻 Claude Activation Sprint - hosted by Robelen Ryan
📅 Thursday 13 August 2026, 1:00pm AEST
📍 Online
💬 Before the Job Ad - How Founders Build Companies People Want to Work For - hosted by Aussie Founders Club
📅 Thursday 13 August 2026, 5:30pm AEST
📍 EverestEngineering, Melbourne
🎉 Sydney Birthday Party - hosted by The Community Collective
📅 Thursday 13 August 2026, 6:00pm AEST
📍 The Pillars, Sydney
🤝 Preparing for U.S. Expansion: A 2-Hour Interactive Masterclass & Tactical Workshop (MEL) - hosted by Robert Gallup / Oz2US Ventures
📅 Tuesday 18 August 2026, 6:00pm AEST
📍 Stone & Chalk, Melbourne
💬 Stripe Tour Sydney - hosted by Stripe
📅 Wednesday 19 August 2026, 8:30am AEST
📍 ICC Sydney, Sydney
🎉 Adelaide Birthday Party - hosted by The Community Collective
📅 Wednesday 19 August 2026, 6:00pm AEST
📍 Stone & Chalk, Adelaide
💻 Galactic Horizon Accelerator - Information Session 2026 - hosted by Galactic Horizon Accelerator
📅 Thursday 20 August 2026, 5:30pm AEST
📍 Online
🎉 Torquay Birthday Party - hosted by The Community Collective
📅 Saturday 22 August 2026, 6:00pm AEST
📍 Happy Spaces, Torquay
That's a wrap for this week - see you in Slack in the meantime.
Catch you Thursday!
Megan 🚀