Melbourne startups announced more funding rounds than Sydney’s in 2025 (53 to 43), the first time Melbourne has led in the Story Recruitment Australian Startup Funding Database. Victoria also raised more venture money than New South Wales. Sydney leads again in 2026 so far, 45 to 25.
Melbourne passed Sydney in 2025
From 2016 to 2023, Sydney startups announced more funding rounds than Melbourne’s every single year. In 2024 it was nearly a tie, 54 to 52. In 2025 Melbourne went ahead, 53 rounds to 43, according to our data.
The money tells the same story. Dealroom found Victorian startups raised A$2.4B in 2025, against A$2.3B in New South Wales. Cut Through Venture founder Chris Gillings said NSW has held the “default” badge as the national leader for the whole history of Australian venture capital. In 2025 Victoria took it.
Australian Startup Funding DatabaseFunding rounds by year: Sydney and Melbourne startups
| Year | Sydney | Melbourne |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 41 | 23 |
| 2017 | 45 | 29 |
| 2018 | 33 | 22 |
| 2019 | 52 | 22 |
| 2020 | 38 | 28 |
| 2021 | 51 | 40 |
| 2022 | 62 | 32 |
| 2023 | 45 | 38 |
| 2024 | 54 | 52 |
| 2025 | 43 | 53 |
| 2026 (YTD) | 45 | 25 |
Melbourne passed Sydney in 2025, 53 rounds to 43. Sydney is back in front in 2026 so far.
Why it happened: a few very big rounds
Our data can’t tell you why. But the list of Melbourne’s biggest 2025 rounds gives a strong hint: a few huge raises. Airwallex raised twice, including a US$330M Series G at a US$8B valuation in December. Brain-implant company Synchron closed an A$305M Series D backed by the National Reconstruction Fund. Solar and storage company RayGen raised A$127M, AI scribe Heidi Health raised a US$65M Series B led by Point72, and payments company Zeller raised A$100M.
Australian Startup Funding DatabaseMelbourne startup rounds in 2025, largest first
5 of 53 deals, largest first
| Date | Company | Round | Sector | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2025 | Airwallex | Series D+ | Fintech | A$772M | smartcompany.com.au |
| Airwallex | Series D+ | Fintech | A$512M | airwallex.com | |
| Airwallex | Series D+ | Fintech | A$466M | smartcompany.com.au | |
| Firmus | Growth | Tech | A$330M | startupdaily.net | |
| Synchron | Series D+ | Deep tech | A$305M | innovationaus.com |
Airwallex and Synchron both make Melbourne's five biggest rounds of 2025.
The industry reports agree. Dealroom says Victoria’s venture total nearly tripled in 2025, led by Airwallex and Synchron. SmartCompany, writing up Cut Through Venture’s Victorian report, said the result was “driven by a rebound at the top end of the market”, and that NSW still did more deals.
Our view: Melbourne won 2025 on a handful of big rounds that made the news. Sydney still does more of the small ones.
Melbourne has been closing the gap for ten years
2025 did not come out of nowhere. From 2016 to 2020, 50% of all rounds went to Sydney startups and 30% to Melbourne. From 2024 to 2026, Sydney’s share is 43% and Melbourne’s is 40%. Sydney’s share barely moved after 2021; Melbourne did the catching up.
Gillings put Victoria’s year down to years of sustained support for Victorian startups. Our guess is that the support built a deep bench of companies that were ready to raise big when investors came back.
Australian Startup Funding DatabaseSydney and Melbourne shares of funding rounds, by year
2024 to 2026: Sydney 43%, Melbourne 40% of deals with a known city (n = 328).
| Year | Sydney | Melbourne |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 50% | 28% |
| 2017 | 49% | 32% |
| 2018 | 42% | 28% |
| 2019 | 53% | 22% |
| 2020 | 44% | 32% |
| 2021 | 38% | 30% |
| 2022 | 45% | 23% |
| 2023 | 34% | 29% |
| 2024 | 39% | 37% |
| 2025 | 36% | 44% |
| 2026 (YTD) | 49% | 27% |
Sydney's lead has narrowed: from 50% against Melbourne's 30% in 2016 to 2020, to 43% against 40% since 2024.
Melbourne’s edge is health. Sydney’s is AI.
The two cities raise for different kinds of company. Since 2024, 24% of Melbourne’s rounds went to health, biotech and medtech startups. In Sydney it was 11%.
That matches the state’s startup base. LaunchVic’s Victorian Startup Growth Report found Victoria is home to more than half of Australia’s healthtech startups. Melbourne now has two well-funded AI medical scribes, Heidi Health and Lyrebird Health, plus health-check company Everlab, which raised an A$65M Series A led by Airtree.
Sydney leans to AI instead. 41% of Sydney’s rounds since 2024 went to AI companies, against 30% of Melbourne’s. Think Harrison.ai, Lorikeet and Relevance AI, which raised A$37M led by Bessemer.
Australian Startup Funding DatabaseMelbourne health, biotech and medtech rounds since 2024, largest first
5 of 31 deals, largest first
| Date | Company | Round | Sector | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heidi Health | Series C | Tech | A$517M | overnightsuccess.vc | |
| Heidi | Series C | Tech | A$517M | overnightsuccess.vc | |
| Synchron | Series D+ | Deep tech | A$305M | innovationaus.com | |
| Heidi Health | Series B | Tech | A$101M | techcrunch.com | |
| Heidi | Series B | Tech | A$101M | heidihealth.com |
Heidi Health and Synchron lead Melbourne's health rounds since 2024.
Health is growing across the country too: read why health is now 1 in 5 Australian startup deals.
Sydney is back in front in 2026
The lead did not last. To early October, Sydney startups have announced 45 rounds and Melbourne startups 25. Melbourne still made big news in September, when Heidi Health became a unicorn with a US$340M Series C led by Blackbird.
Don’t move cities to raise. Investors are writing big cheques to Melbourne companies and lots of smaller ones to Sydney companies. Where you live matters far less than having clean numbers ready the day an investor asks for them.
Hiring finance in Melbourne or Sydney
More Melbourne rounds means more Melbourne startups that suddenly need someone to own the numbers. Sydney pays those people more. When I looked at Finance Business Partner pay on LinkedIn in April 2025, the typical range was $125k to $180k in Sydney and $120k to $165k in Melbourne. I wrote:
“Sydney continues to lead the way, both in volume of roles and pay. Driven by demand and cost of living.”
So a Melbourne startup can often hire a strong finance lead for a little less. A Sydney startup is up against more open roles, so expect to pay towards the top of the range. In both cities, the bigger question is timing. In our study of when Australian startups hire finance, 52% of funded startups had a finance person before their first announced round. If you plan to raise in the next year, hire your finance lead now, before the process starts.
Raising in Melbourne or Sydney? You'll need a finance lead to get you through it. We'll find you the best person.
Tom calls you back, usually within one business day. Or call 02 9099 7619.
Sources and notes
Data. All round counts come from the Story Recruitment Australian Startup Funding Database: 2,548 announced Australian startup rounds from January 2016 to early October 2026. 2026 runs from January to early October.
City. City counts and shares cover only rounds where we know the startup’s city (about half the database). In 2025 that was 121 rounds: 53 Melbourne, 43 Sydney. In 2024, 54 Sydney and 52 Melbourne; in 2026 to date, 45 Sydney and 25 Melbourne. Ten-year shares are of rounds placed in a capital city: Sydney 209 of 421 and Melbourne 124 of 421 in 2016 to 2020; Sydney 142 of 328 and Melbourne 130 of 328 in 2024 to 2026. Counts are rows, so a round reported twice counts twice. Collapsing rows with the same company, month and stage (our count) still leaves Melbourne ahead in 2025, 49 to 42, and puts it slightly ahead in 2024 too, 52 to 48.
Health and AI. Health is rounds with the sub-sector healthtech, healthtech AI, biotech or medtech, the filter in the linked views: 31 of Melbourne’s 130 rounds and 15 of Sydney’s 142 in 2024 to 2026 (24% and 11%, our division of those counts). The broader health definition used elsewhere on this site gives 32 and 16. AI is rounds flagged as AI companies: 58 of 142 in Sydney and 39 of 130 in Melbourne (41% and 30%). Example amounts (RayGen, Zeller, Everlab) are from the database rows; other amounts are as reported by the linked source.
Dollar totals are not from our data. The A$2.4B and A$2.3B figures are Dealroom’s Victorian Startup Growth Report 2025 review, which covers states, not cities. Cut Through Venture’s report, as reported by SmartCompany, puts Victoria at $2.2B across 134 deals and NSW ahead on deal count. Outlets differ on the exact figures.
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, so a year of front-page raises (like Melbourne’s 2025) shows up strongly. City counts in a single year are under 60, so read year-on-year moves as direction. Dates come from announcement coverage, and in a spot check about 1 in 7 rows sat in a neighbouring year or month. The full method is in the explainer on how we built the database. The finance-hire figure (100 of 191 startups with a dated finance hire) is from our separate study of when Australian startups hire finance.
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
Did Melbourne overtake Sydney in startup funding?
Yes, in 2025. Melbourne startups announced 53 funding rounds to Sydney's 43, the first year Melbourne led in the Story Recruitment Australian Startup Funding Database. Dealroom found Victorian startups raised A$2.4B of venture capital that year against A$2.3B in New South Wales. Sydney is ahead again in 2026 so far, 45 rounds to 25.
Why did Melbourne overtake Sydney?
Mostly a handful of very big rounds. Airwallex, Synchron, RayGen, Heidi Health and Zeller all raised large rounds in 2025. Cut Through Venture founder Chris Gillings credited years of sustained support for Victorian startups. Melbourne also has a steady lead in health startups. Cut Through Venture still counted more deals in NSW overall.
What kind of startups raise money in Melbourne compared with Sydney?
Melbourne leans to health. From 2024 to 2026, 24% of Melbourne's funding rounds were health, biotech or medtech, against 11% of Sydney's. Sydney leans to AI: 41% of its rounds were AI companies, against 30% in Melbourne.
Is it harder to hire a finance lead in Sydney or Melbourne?
Sydney has more finance roles and pays more for them. In April 2025 Tom Hunter put the typical Finance Business Partner range at $125k to $180k in Sydney and $120k to $165k in Melbourne. Melbourne startups now raise almost as often as Sydney ones, so both cities compete for the small group of finance people who have been through a raise.
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.