37% (7 of 19) of Australian deep tech startups that raised before hiring finance made the hire within six months; nobody did in months 7 to 12, and the other 63% (12) took more than a year.
37% of deep tech startups that raised first hired finance within six months of the round, and none in the six months after that
We dated every finance hire at 194 venture-backed Australian companies against their announced rounds. 52 of them are deep tech, and 37% (19) of those made their first finance hire in the month of their first round or after it. This is how long they took, against every startup in the study.
- Deep tech (19 companies)
- All startups (91 companies)
- Within 3 months3 of 1916 of 91
- Within 6 months7 of 1924 of 91
- Within 12 months7 of 1934 of 91
- Within 18 months8 of 1949 of 91
- Within 24 months12 of 1959 of 91
- Within 36 months14 of 1968 of 91
View as a table
| First finance hire | Deep tech (19) | All startups (91) |
|---|---|---|
| Within 3 months | 3 (16%) | 16 (18%) |
| Within 6 months | 7 (37%) | 24 (26%) |
| Within 12 months | 7 (37%) | 34 (37%) |
| Within 18 months | 8 (42%) | 49 (54%) |
| Within 24 months | 12 (63%) | 59 (65%) |
| Within 36 months | 14 (74%) | 68 (75%) |
37% (7 of 19) had someone in finance six months after the round, and the same 37% at twelve.2 Across all startups the running total kept climbing through those months, from 26% (24 of 91) to 37% (34 of 91). So if your round closed four months ago, the deep tech companies that moved early had already moved; if it closed nine months ago, you are in the stretch where none of them made the hire.
The fast seven mostly hired at controller level or above: three CFOs, three financial controllers and a finance manager. Round stage does not sort the two groups; both mix seeds and Series A rounds. If you already have someone in finance, the before-or-after split is in when deep tech hires finance, before or after the raise.
The quiet months line up with the gap between deep tech rounds
Two things in the data sit alongside the empty months.1 First, deep tech raises slowly. Of the 16 companies here with a second confirmed round, none raised it within a year of the first; the shortest gap was 14 months and the median 22. Among software companies that hired after their round, 26% (9 of 34) raised again inside a year, and among fintechs 47% (7 of 15).
Second, the late hires clustered near a later round. 67% (8 of 12) of those that waited more than a year made the first hire within six months either side of a later raise, and a ninth has only a year on record, the same year as its next round. Across all startups 49% (28 of 57) of the late hires did the same. Which means in deep tech the next round, more than the calendar, is when the hire has tended to land. If yours is 18 months away, the months either side of it are the window.8
After a Series A, 42% hired within six months and nobody else that year
The first round is not the only one that starts a clock. This table takes every deep tech company with nobody in finance when a seed or Series A was announced, first round or not.
| Measure | Seed8 companies | Series A13 companies |
|---|---|---|
| Median wait | 20months | 15months |
| Middle half of waits | 5 to 28months | 3 to 33months |
| Hired within 6 months | 3 of 8companies | 42%5 of 12 |
| Hired within 12 months | 3 of 8companies | 42%5 of 12 |
| Hired within 24 months | 6 of 8companies | 58%7 of 12 |
The same empty stretch shows after a Series A: 42% (5 of 12) within six months, still 42% at a year, 58% (7 of 12) by two years. Fintech’s Series A clock has the same shape (33%, 4 of 12, at both points), so the quiet months after an A are not unique to deep tech. After the first round they are. Across all startups, 46% (21 of 46) hired within a year of a Series A. After a seed, 3 of 8 hired inside six months and 6 of 8 within two years.
What should start the search is the work the round, and the next one, creates
Closing a round brings its own list. Once the money lands there are more people to hire, more spend to control, more scrutiny from the board, and a plan from the pitch deck that now has to be delivered. In deep tech, add the parts of the money that arrive in pieces: a tranche on a technical milestone, a grant with its own reporting, an R&D claim the runway depends on.
That is the job as I described it on Celia’s Corner: finance is “responsible for getting runway built and ensuring that they are hitting milestones in terms of getting additional funding or getting R&D grants or ensuring checkpoints are completed.” If those milestones are how you reach the next round, the person tracking them should be inside before that round starts.
Founders do not leave the books untidy by choice. When you are building a product, keeping the team together and chasing the next milestone, a perfect set of accounts is rarely top of the list, and the first finance hire walks into whatever has built up.
Start the search now, or can it wait?
Five yes-or-no questions about your deep tech company since the round. One yes is enough.
- Is part of the money tied to milestones, tranches or a grant with its own reporting?
- Does your runway count on an R&D Tax Incentive refund this year?
- Are you buying components, stock or manufacturing capacity ahead of revenue?
- Is the next raise planned within 18 months?
- Is your outside accountant or fractional CFO working well past the hours they were engaged for?
0 of 5 answered. Your answer appears here after the last one.
Not sure which side of the gap you are on? Send me the stage, what the round has to pay for and who does finance today, and I will tell you.
Get a read on my finance hireIf you are being told to hire now, or to wait
“We are pre-revenue. There is nothing for finance to do until the next raise.” The questions I see skipped before a hire still apply pre-revenue: what the hire does to runway, and what happens if revenue comes in later than planned. In deep tech it often does. Those questions run from the day the round lands, and the seat does not have to be a CFO: the fast seven included three financial controllers and a finance manager.
“Our fractional CFO will carry us to the next round.” Often it will. Before the work fills a full-time week, fractional help is the right answer. I recently helped a pre-revenue founder in a niche industry find exactly that, to get visibility over the numbers and bring the model into line with where the business was heading. Plan the handover, though: if the internal hire tends to land near the next round, start the search before the raise does.
How Xefco, Epiminder and GPN Vaccines ran the clock: 5, 42 and 55 months
Three deep tech companies with nobody in finance when their first round was announced, one from the fast seven and two from the slow twelve. Titles and dates are from public profiles; rounds from the announcements linked.
Xefco
A finance manager five months after a round raised to start production
- Business
- Water-free dyeing and finishing technology for textiles, founded 2018
- Rounds
- Apr 2024 (A$10.5M, led by Main Sequence)
- First finance hire
- Finance manager, Sep 2024
- Against the first roundVs first round
- 5 months after
- Next finance hire
- Financial accountant, Jan 2026
- Now
- Both in role (Sep 2026)
Xefco has a patented process for dyeing and finishing fabric without water. In April 2024 it announced A$10.5 million led by Main Sequence to grow the team and take the process into commercial production.
Five months later a finance manager started, and a financial accountant followed in January 2026. The release calls it the company’s latest round; it is the first one our two-source check confirmed.
One of the fast seven. When the round pays for production, the supplier bills and cost of goods start before revenue does.
Epiminder
A financial controller 42 months after the Series A, with no round nearby
- Business
- Implantable epilepsy monitoring device, founded 2017
- First finance hire
- Financial controller, Apr 2024
- Against the first roundVs first round
- 42 months after; 25 months after the bridge round
- Next finance hire
- CFO, Oct 2025; financial accountant, Nov 2025
- Now
- Controller and CFO both in role (Sep 2026)
Epiminder is building an implanted device that monitors epilepsy around the clock. Its A$18 million Series A in October 2020 was raised for a pivotal clinical trial, and a A$16 million bridge round followed in March 2022.
Its first internal finance hire, a financial controller, started in April 2024, two years after the bridge round, and a CFO joined above the controller in October 2025.
One of the late hires with no round nearby. If no raise is coming to set the date, set it yourself.
GPN Vaccines
A CFO after three raises and years of grants
- Business
- Pneumococcal vaccine developer in Adelaide, founded 2017
- Rounds
- Jan 2019 (A$1.1M); Series A2, Jun 2020 (A$7M); Series A3, Jan 2023 (A$9M); Series B1, Jun 2024 (A$18M)
- First finance hire
- CFO, Aug 2023
- Against the first roundVs first round
- 55 months after; 7 months after the Series A3
- Next finance hire
- Financial controller, Mar 2026
- Now
- CFO and controller both in role (Sep 2026)
GPN Vaccines is developing a vaccine against Streptococcus pneumoniae, the bacterium behind pneumococcal disease. Its first announced raise, A$1.1 million in January 2019, sat alongside government research and commercialisation grants, and the Series A2 in June 2020 alongside another state government grant.
The first internal finance hire was a CFO in August 2023, seven months after the Series A3 and ten months before the Series B1. A financial controller joined in March 2026.
The first finance hire came between the third and fourth raises, and it was the CFO.
Deep tech is the only sector where nobody hired in months 7 to 12
| Companies that hired after their first round | Deep tech52 companies | All startups191 companies | Software82 companies | Fintech40 companies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hired after the first round | 37%19 of 52 | 48%91 of 191 | 55%45 of 82 | 45%18 of 40 |
| Median wait | 21months | 18months | 18months | 21months |
| Middle half of waits | 5 to 38months | 6 to 36months | 7 to 42months | 12 to 28months |
| Hired in months 7 to 12 | 0%0 of 19 | 11%10 of 91 | 13%6 of 45 | 11%2 of 18 |
Deep tech shares fintech’s 21-month median and, after software, has the widest spread of waits. Each group has its own page: all startups, software and fintech. The other deep tech benchmarks: what to hire first and the second finance hire, and the full study.
Common questions
How long after raising do Australian deep tech startups hire their first finance person?
Of the 52 funded Australian deep tech startups in Story Recruitment's study, 37% (19) made their first internal finance hire in the month of their first announced round or later. The median wait was 21 months, with the middle half between 5 and 38 months. 37% (7 of 19) hired within six months, none in months 7 to 12, and the other 63% (12) after more than a year.
Why did no deep tech startup hire finance between 7 and 12 months after its round?
The data does not prove why. Two things sit alongside it: none of the 16 deep tech companies in this group with a second confirmed round raised it within a year of the first (the shortest gap was 14 months), and 67% (8 of 12) of those that waited more than a year made the hire within six months of a later round. With only 19 companies, some of the gap may also be chance.
How soon after a Series A does a deep tech company hire finance?
Among 13 deep tech companies we tracked with no internal finance hire when their Series A was announced, the median was 15 months. 42% (5 of 12) hired within six months, no more in the rest of the first year, and 58% (7 of 12) within two years. Across all startups, 46% (21 of 46) hired within a year of a Series A.
Does hiring finance soon after a raise help a deep tech company raise again?
This data does not show that, and we do not claim it. It records when the hire happened relative to the rounds, not whether the timing changed anything that followed.
Notes
- It does not show that hiring finance earlier or later causes a better outcome. It records the order things happened in. The only outcome test so far was run on the first 102 companies in the study, before it grew to 194. There, the share that raised again within 24 months of the first finance hire ran 55% when the hire came before any round (27 of 49), 47% at Series A (7 of 15) and 33% at Series B or later (2 of 6), and none of those differences could be told apart from chance (Fisher exact test, p=0.77 and p=0.41). Outcomes have not been collected for the full 194, and companies that hire early and companies that raise again are often the same well-organised companies, so no timing figure in this series is an argument for a timing.
- It is a survivor set. Every company announced a round and has at least one finance employee we could find, so the study describes companies that did build an internal finance function. In the 93 of the first 102 companies with a usable status there was not one insolvency, administration or wind-up. It cannot say what share of Australian startups have no finance lead at all.
- Outsourced and fractional finance is invisible. A virtual or fractional CFO supplied by a firm does not list the startup as an employer, so it never appears in public employment records. 16 of the 191 first hires we tracked (8%) were visibly fractional, part-time or interim, and that is a floor. Every “had no finance hire” figure means no internal hire we could find, among the companies we tracked.
- There is no headcount at the time of the hire. Only today’s headcount is public, so nothing here says “they hired a CFO at 40 staff”. The companies run from roughly 2 to 500 staff today.
- Titles are counted once. Each person is recorded at the earliest finance title they held at the company, so a controller promoted to CFO in the same business reads as a controller. Every “later added a CFO” figure is a floor.
- Rounds are dated by announcement. An announcement usually trails the close by weeks, rounds that were never announced are invisible, and grants and research funding are not in the round series. Round amounts are the least reliable field and no figure in this series rests on one. For 12 companies with names too common to search cleanly, past-staff coverage is a floor.
- It is not the market report. Story’s earlier market report on the first finance hire measured something different, the share of recently funded companies with a finance leader at each stage, so its figures and these do not compare directly.
- Deep tech is 53 companies, tagged by us, 52 of them with a dated finance hire. It means a scientific or engineering advance the company builds itself. This page rests on the 19 that hired after their first round, so every group under 10 is printed as a count. One of the 19 waited more than eleven years from its first announced round; it stretches the top of the range but barely moves the median. The empty months 7 to 12 are a pattern in 19 companies: at the rate the other 72 startups that raised first hired in those months, you would expect two or three of the 19 there, and seeing none is about a one in 17 chance. Two companies had nobody in finance at a Series B, too few to report.
The full method, including how rounds were double-checked and how same-named companies overseas were excluded, is in the study’s methodology section.
These guides set out how we see it, drawn from the searches we run and the finance leaders we work with. They are general information about the market, not financial, accounting or legal advice, and they are no substitute for advice on your own circumstances.