The median Australian seed round more than doubled, from A$1.3M before 2021 to A$3.5M since, according to the Story Recruitment Australian Startup Funding Database. In 2026 so far it is A$4.0M.
The typical seed round is now A$3.5M
If you raised A$1.5M at seed in 2018, you raised a normal round. Raise A$1.5M today and you are getting well under half the going rate. According to our data, the typical seed round was between A$1M and A$1.65M every year from 2016 to 2020. In 2021 it jumped to A$3.79M. It has stayed between A$3M and A$4M every year since, and seed rounds announced this year are running at A$4.0M.
Australian Startup Funding DatabaseMedian Australian seed round, by year
| Year | Median | Deals with an amount |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | A$1.0M | 45 |
| 2017 | A$1.2M | 32 |
| 2018 | A$1.6M | 33 |
| 2019 | A$1.5M | 37 |
| 2020 | A$1.6M | 40 |
| 2021 | A$3.8M | 50 |
| 2022 | A$4.0M | 83 |
| 2023 | A$3.0M | 59 |
| 2024 | A$3.0M | 63 |
| 2025 | A$3.2M | 46 |
| 2026 (YTD) | A$4.0M | 36 |
The typical seed sat between A$1M and A$1.65M until 2020, jumped to A$3.79M in 2021 and is A$4.0M in 2026 so far.
What a seed round looked like then, and now
In 2017 and 2018 a good seed round was about A$1.5M. Agritech startup Flurosat raised A$1.5M from Main Sequence Ventures and AirTree in December 2017. Melbourne’s Everproof raised the same amount led by Reinventure in 2018. HealthMatch raised A$1.3M at seed that year, and its whole Series A in 2019 was A$6M.
In 2021 that changed fast. Honey Insurance launched with a A$15.5M seed, which TechCrunch called the largest seed round ever raised by an Australian tech startup. Eight-figure seeds stopped being news. Fraud startup Darwinium raised US$10M from Blackbird and AirTree in 2022. Marloo, which builds AI for financial advisers, raised A$4.2M at pre-seed in September 2025, more than a typical seed round. Seven months later it raised US$10M at seed. This year, robot testing startup Alloy Robotics raised a A$11.5M seed led by Square Peg.
Big seeds are now normal. Before 2021, 7% of seed rounds were A$5M or more. Since 2021, 38% have been. Seeds of A$10M or more went from 2% to 14%. You can see the biggest recent seeds in the database.
Australian Startup Funding DatabaseThe biggest Australian seed rounds since 2024
5 of 156 deals, largest first
| Date | Company | Round | Sector | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2026 | Skopos Bio | Seed | Deep tech | A$18M | smartcompany.com.au |
| Aug 2026 | Apate.ai | Seed | Tech | A$17M | revli.com |
| Everlab | Seed | Tech | A$16M | capitalbrief.com | |
| Element Zero | Seed | Deep tech | A$15M | playground.vc | |
| Marloo | Seed | Fintech | A$15M | tech.eu |
Skopos Bio, Apate.ai, Everlab, Element Zero and Marloo each raised a seed of A$15M or more.
Why seed rounds got so big
Our data shows how much founders raised, not why. Here is our view, built on what investors and analysts have said.
First, 2021 was a scramble. Cut Through Venture and Folklore Ventures’ report on that year found average seed rounds grew 114%, the biggest rise of any stage. The same report put bigger rounds down to fierce competition for deals. When several funds want the same company, the round gets bigger.
Second, big funds kept backing early rounds. The money they raised in the boom years still had to be invested. James Alexander of VC Down Under wrote in 2024 that larger VC funds were “pouring cash into earlier stage deals” as growth capital and overseas investors pulled back from later rounds.
Third, the bar for the next round went up. Elizabeth McCluskey of TruStage Ventures told Global Venturing that the Series A goalpost “used to be a million dollars in revenue, and now it’s more like two to three”. Our guess is that Australian Series A investors expect much the same. Reaching that bar takes more cash, so seed money now pays for work that Series A money used to cover.
Bigger seeds do not mean raising got easier for everyone. As I wrote on LinkedIn in May, after a $1.8 billion first quarter in which the top 10 deals took nearly 60% of the money: “If you’re raising a sub-$5M round right now, this market feels very different to what that number suggests.”
Series A grew too, so the gap is still there
People say seed is the new Series A. That is only half true. The typical seed grew 169%. The typical Series A grew 91%, from A$8.3M to A$15.8M. Series B grew 50% and Series C 57%. So money moved towards the early rounds, but a Series A is still about four and a half times the size of a seed. Don’t raise a big seed and act as if you already have a Series A.
Australian Startup Funding DatabaseMedian Australian Series A round, by year
| Year | Median | Deals with an amount |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | A$8.4M | 14 |
| 2017 | A$5.0M | 29 |
| 2018 | A$10M | 23 |
| 2019 | A$13M | 24 |
| 2020 | A$8.0M | 30 |
| 2021 | A$20M | 43 |
| 2022 | A$16M | 49 |
| 2023 | A$12M | 39 |
| 2024 | A$15M | 30 |
| 2025 | A$17M | 25 |
| 2026 (YTD) | A$14M | 28 |
The median Series A rose from A$8.0M before 2021 to A$15.8M since.
A bigger seed means you need finance help sooner
An A$4M seed is a different business to run from an A$1.5M one. You have more cash to manage and a board that wants proper reporting. And the clock is short. According to our data, Australian startups that raise again typically do it 14 months after their last round. Companies that went from seed to Series A took about 20 months.
Our recommendation: if you raised A$3.5M or more, hire your first finance person soon after the money lands, not in the scramble before your Series A. As I put it on LinkedIn in July:
“The best finance people are actually most valuable in the 6 months after the raise, not the 6 months before it.”
Those months are when the forecast and the board reporting get built properly, and your Series A investors will judge you on both. To see when funded Australian startups make their first finance hire, read when Australian startups hire finance.
Just closed your seed? You'll need someone to run the numbers before your Series A. We'll find you the best person.
Tom calls you back, usually within one business day. Or call 02 9099 7619.
Sources and notes
All round sizes come from the Story Recruitment Australian Startup Funding Database, which records 2,548 Australian startup deals announced from January 2016 to early October 2026. Medians use only deals with a named stage and a disclosed amount, converted to approximate Australian dollars. “Before 2021” means January 2016 to December 2020 (187 seed rounds, 120 Series A, 73 Series B, 31 Series C). “Since 2021” means January 2021 to early October 2026 (337 seed rounds, 214 Series A, 117 Series B, 48 Series C). 2026 is the year to early October (36 seed rounds with an amount).
The shares of seed rounds of A$5M or more (13 of 187 before 2021, 129 of 337 since) and A$10M or more (3 of 187, 46 of 337) are counted directly from the seed rows with an amount in the database. Growth percentages compare the two period medians. The 2017 all-stage median of A$4.0M covers 147 deals with an amount. The 14-month figure is the median gap between two raises by the same company, across 820 such pairs. The 20-month gap is the median (19.5 months) for the 36 of 181 companies whose first round was a seed in 2017 to 2021 and that we later saw raise a Series A; coverage is partial, so more of them may have raised.
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 is likely weighted to rounds the press covered. Dates come from announcement coverage; in a spot check, about 1 in 7 rows sat in a neighbouring month or year. Examples link to the original coverage. US dollar rounds are quoted as reported. The 114% seed growth figure is Cut Through Venture and Folklore Ventures’ 2021 finding as reported by Dynamic Business, not our data. Elizabeth McCluskey was describing US Series A investors; applying it to Australia is our view. The $1.8 billion quarter and top-10 share are Cut Through Venture’s Q1 2026 figures, as quoted in Tom’s post. The full method is on the database page.
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
How big is a typical seed round in Australia?
A$3.5M. That is the median seed round announced from 2021 to October 2026 in the Story Recruitment Australian Startup Funding Database. From 2016 to 2020 it was A$1.3M. Seed rounds announced in 2026 so far have a median of A$4.0M.
Is seed really the new Series A?
In size, partly. A 2026 seed is about as big as a typical startup deal of any stage in 2017 (both A$4.0M). But Series A rounds grew too, from A$8.3M to A$15.8M, so a seed still buys you less runway and less scrutiny than a Series A does.
Why did Australian seed rounds get bigger?
Our view: in 2021 investors competed hard for deals and pushed round sizes up, and the larger funds raised in that period kept writing bigger early cheques once later-stage money dried up. Series A investors also now expect more revenue, so founders raise more at seed to reach it.
When should I hire my first finance person after a seed round?
If you raised A$3.5M or more, start the search soon after the money lands. The median gap from seed to Series A in our data is about 20 months, and a good first finance hire needs most of that time to build the forecast, board reporting and data room your Series A will be judged on.
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.