Airwallex raised in 9 of the last 11 years. Most Australian startups (72%) appear once. Repeat raisers come back about every 14 months, so the next raise starts the day the last one closes.
Airwallex has raised in 9 of the last 11 years
Airwallex, the cross-border payments company founded in Melbourne, announced its first round in our data in July 2016: a US$3M seed round led by Gobi Partners. In May 2017 came a US$13M Series A backed by Tencent, Sequoia China and Mastercard. Seven months later it took US$6M more from Square Peg. Then came a Series B in 2018, a C in 2019, a D in 2020, an E in 2021 and a top-up of that E in 2022, according to our data.
It went quiet in 2023 and 2024. By late 2024 it was reported to be in talks to raise about US$200M, and in May 2025 it closed an A$466M round. A US$330M Series G followed that December, and in June 2026 it raised again. That round was big enough to skew the quarter’s totals. As I wrote on LinkedIn in July 2026, after reading Cut Through Venture’s quarterly report: “Two deals, Firmus at $725M and Airwallex at $460M, made up close to 70% of all capital raised.”
Australian Startup Funding DatabaseAirwallex's rounds in the database, oldest first
5 of 25 deals, oldest first
| Date | Company | Round | Sector | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airwallex | Seed | Fintech | A$4.1M | techcrunch.com | |
| Airwallex | Series A | Fintech | A$17M | startupdaily.net | |
| Airwallex | Series A | Fintech | A$7.8M | airwallex.com | |
| Airwallex | Series B | Fintech | A$107M | airwallex.com | |
| Airwallex | Series C | Fintech | A$144M | techboard.com.au |
Airwallex's first rounds: a seed in 2016, a Series A in 2017, topped up the same year, then a Series B in 2018.
Why Airwallex keeps raising
Our data shows when companies raise, not why. Airwallex has been unusually open about its reasons, though, and they come down to one habit: it raises before it has to.
When it took the Square Peg money in December 2017, TechCrunch reported the company didn’t need it. It raised anyway, because new competitors were piling into cross-border payments and faster growth would make the next raise easier. In October 2022, with the market turning, it raised US$100M while it still had “$600 million out of the total $900 million raised” in the bank. TechCrunch reported it was raising “just in case”.
That is the habit worth copying. Cash in the bank lets you walk away from bad terms, which you can’t do with three months of runway left. I made the same point on LinkedIn in September 2026: the best deal goes to the founder who started early, so “start the conversations earlier than feels comfortable and get the finance function ready to support a proper process.”
There is a second reason, and it is our guess rather than anything the companies have said: some businesses eat capital. The companies that raised in 6 different years include rocket maker Gilmour Space Technologies, satellite company Fleet Space Technologies and quantum company Q-CTRL. Hardware and science take many cheques before they earn much revenue, which is part of why deep tech is taking a bigger share of deals.
Most startups raise once. Those that return usually do it within two years
Airwallex is the exception: 72% of the companies in our database appear only once.
The ones that do come back don’t wait long. The typical gap between raises is 14 months, and half of all gaps fall between 8 and 23 months.
Australian Startup Funding DatabaseTime between raises by the same company, 2016 to 2026
Median 14 months between raises (middle half: 8 to 23 months, n = 820).
The typical company that raises again does it 14 months after its last round.
Employment Hero, the Sydney HR and payroll company, is a clean example: a Series A in 2016, a B in 2018, a C in 2019, then two more rounds in 2021, each bigger than the last.
Australian Startup Funding DatabaseEmployment Hero's rounds, oldest first
5 of 9 deals, oldest first
| Date | Company | Round | Sector | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employment Hero | Series A | Tech | A$4.5M | zdnet.com | |
| Mar 2018 | Employment Hero | Series B | Tech | A$8.0M | smartcompany.com.au |
| Employment Hero | Series C | Tech | A$22M | venturebeat.com | |
| Jan 2021 | Employment Hero | Series D+ | Tech | A$45M | theaustralian.com.au |
| Employment Hero | Series D+ | Tech | A$140M | theage.com.au |
Employment Hero went from an A$4.5M Series A in 2016 to an A$140M round in 2021, raising every year or two.
Thirteen months is not long. By the time a company has hired with the last round’s money, investors for the next one are asking for the numbers. The full breakdown by stage is in how long between funding rounds.
Some big rounds come in instalments
Not every repeat raise is a new round. Q-CTRL, the Sydney quantum company, raised its Series B in steps: US$25M led by Airbus Ventures in November 2021, US$27.4M more in January 2023, and US$59M in October 2024 that took the round to US$113M. You can see each instalment in our data.
Australian Startup Funding DatabaseQ-CTRL's Series B, newest first
5 of 6 deals, newest first
| Date | Company | Round | Sector | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q-CTRL | Series B | Deep tech | A$90M | q-ctrl.com | |
| Q-CTRL | Series B | Deep tech | A$167M | smh.com.au | |
| Jun 2023 | Q-CTRL | Series B | Deep tech | A$5.7M | smartcompany.com.au |
| Q-CTRL | Series B | Deep tech | A$41M | techcrunch.com | |
| Q-CTRL | Series B | Deep tech | A$33M | techcrunch.com |
Q-CTRL added to the same Series B in 2021, 2023 and 2024.
Our view: topping up a round lets a company raise without setting a new price. Airwallex’s 2022 top-up kept its valuation flat at US$5.5B. For the finance team, an instalment is still a raise, with the same diligence and the same questions.
Planning to raise again? Start the day this one closes
If your last round closed this year, plan for the next one to open in about a year. Work back from that date.
Investors will want clean monthly reports and a model that holds up under questions. Both take months to build, and keeping them current is far easier than building them in a rush. As I wrote on LinkedIn in August 2026:
“Often the successful ones start this early and are always raise-ready, so that when the process begins, the hard part is already behind them.”
Staying raise-ready is a finance job. Series A is usually when the first finance hire lands, and Series B when the first CFO does. The evidence is in when Australian startups hire finance.
For the signs it is time, and what a first CFO costs, read when to hire a CFO.
Planning your next raise? You'll need a finance lead to get you ready for it. We'll find you the best person.
Tom calls you back, usually within one business day. Or call 02 9099 7619.
Not hiring yet? Look up any company’s rounds in the Australian startup funding database.
Sources and notes
Data. All figures come from the Story Recruitment Australian Startup Funding Database: 2,548 announced Australian startup rounds across 1,522 companies, January 2016 to early October 2026. 2026 runs from January to early October.
Years with a raise count the calendar years in which a company has at least one round in the database. Airwallex has 25 rows across 11 calendar years, but we count 9 (2016 to 2022, 2025 and 2026). Two rows do not hold up against their sources: the December 2023 row comes from a report on 2025 funding and is the December 2025 Series G, and the November 2024 row is a report of talks, not a closed round. Amber Electric (9 years) and Kinoxis Therapeutics (7) are left out of the ranking because several of their rows re-list the same round in later years; Amber’s A$78.5M round appears in four different years. Employment Hero has rows in 7 years, but its 2025 row is KKR buying shares from SEEK, not a new round, so we count 6 (2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023). The 6-year group (Gilmour Space Technologies, Fleet Space Technologies, Q-CTRL and others) uses the database’s own count.
Raised once means 1,100 of 1,522 companies have a single row (72%, our division). The database has no single view for this count, so the claim links here rather than to the app. It counts companies we saw raise once. Some will have raised again without coverage reaching us, and companies that first raised in 2025 or 2026 have had little time to come back, so 72% is a ceiling.
Time between raises is the gap between consecutive rounds by the same company: median 14 months, middle half 8 to 23 months, across 820 gaps. A round reported twice can shorten or stretch a gap.
Amounts are as announced, in the currency of the announcement. The A$460M Airwallex figure for 2026 is Cut Through Venture’s, as quoted by Tom Hunter. The Q-CTRL Series B instalments come from the database rows and the company’s announcement. The database holds six Series B rows for Q-CTRL: two are undated and one repeats the October 2024 close in Australian dollars.
Coverage. The database covers about two thirds of the market: 247 deals in 2025, against 390 in Cut Through Venture and Folklore Ventures’ 2025 State of Australian Startup Funding. It leans towards rounds that got press coverage. Dates come from announcement coverage, and in a spot check about 1 in 7 rows sat in a neighbouring year or month, which can move a company’s year count by one. There is no founder-gender data. The full method is in the explainer on how we built the database.
How to cite this: Source: Story Recruitment Australian Startup Funding Database (2016 to 2026), storyrecruitment.com.au/insights/australian-startup-funding, CC BY 4.0.
Common questions
Which Australian startup has raised the most often?
Airwallex. In the Story Recruitment Australian Startup Funding Database it raised in 9 of the last 11 years: every year from 2016 to 2022, then 2025 and 2026. Employment Hero, with new rounds in 6 different years from 2016 to 2023, is among the closest.
How many Australian startups raise only once?
Most of them. 72% of the 1,522 companies in the Story Recruitment Australian Startup Funding Database appear with a single round.
How long do Australian startups wait between funding rounds?
About a year. For companies that raise more than once, the median gap between raises is 14 months, and half of all gaps fall between 8 and 23 months.
When should a startup that plans to raise again hire finance?
Before the next round needs it. Investors will ask for months of clean reporting, a model that holds up and a data room, and they take months to build. Series A is usually when the first finance hire lands, and Series B when the first CFO does.
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.