Three ANZ startups that raised $3.6 million this week
Australian and New Zealand startups have raised more than $3.6 million this week. All of the fresh capital is flowing into AI platforms, tackling everything from agent development and ESG reporting to geospatial intelligence.
BlueNexus: $2 million
Sydney startup BlueNexus has raised $2 million in seed funding led by M31 Capital, with participation from Antler, Eastend Ventures and inSilico One.
Founded in 2025, BlueNexus is building what it describes as an ‘agent management platform’. According to the company, this allows users to create AI agents using a plain-language, no-code builder in around 20 minutes, before deploying them across the web, APIs or email.
The platform is aimed at domain experts, such as lawyers, accountants, and consultants, as well as product teams wanting to embed AI into existing software without lengthy development cycles.
BlueNexus said the funding will support its platform rollout, expansion of its connector ecosystem and compliance certifications, including SOC 2, as it targets regulated industries such as healthcare, legal and financial services.
Hyades: $910,000
Auckland startup Hyades, which helps companies build AI models from map-based data, such as satellite images, drone footage and radar, has banked a $910,000 (NZ$1.1 million) pre-seed round.
The raise was led by Icehouse Ventures, supported by K1W1 and angel investors Tony Falkenstein and Tim Brown.
On top of the VC investment, Hyades has also scored a $332,000 (NZ$400,000) New to R&D grant from the government.
Hyades is developing a platform, still in its early alpha phase, that combines different types of complex technical information into a single understandable form to help industries such as insurance, agriculture, mining, and climate science use spatial data to improve business decision-making.
The funding will go towards securing enterprise co-design partners, AI engineering talent, and scaling the platform for wider release.
Hyades is founded by University of Auckland graduates, Ashin Alex, Sam Kurian and Jimin Seo.
ESGAgent.ai: $725,000
A Brisbane AI software startup helping heavy industries use AI to automate climate, safety and governance reporting has banked $725,000 in seed funding.
The round for Klean Technologies, trading as ESGAgent.ai, was led by Japanese VC DNX Ventures and takes the total raised, including grants, to $1.7 million since a pre-seed round in 2024.
The new funds will support product development and customer growth as the Australian government ramps up mandatory compliance obligations across climate disclosure, emissions reporting, workplace safety, modern slavery, biodiversity and broader ESG governance requirements.
ESGAgent.ai automates compliance activities that traditionally required expensive consultants and reduces reporting timelines from months to hours, replacing manual workflows with AI-driven processes on a single platform.
Founder Shan Vahora said the startup has tier one miners, food manufacturers, and global engineering consultants among its client base.
“We built ESGAgent.ai because compliance is becoming increasingly complex, costly and resource-intensive for Australian industry,” he said.
