Victorian Startup Growth Report 2025 (LaunchVic)

Summary

• Victorian startups are now worth a combined AU$139B.p.4
• Victorian startups raised AU$2.4B in 2025.p.4
• Victorian venture capital investment has grown 7.8x in the last 10 years, faster than the Global VC average of 2.5x.p.4
• The Victorian startup ecosystem has grown 19.9x since 2016, faster than Singapore.p.4
• Late-stage investment is at a record high of AU$1.5B.p.4
• Victoria-based startups have created 66.9k jobs.p.4
• Only ~18% of seed stage companies in Victoria reach Series A.p.10

Key insights

1. Medtech and enterprise software are Victoria's leading sectors, with 763 of 1,676 enterprise software startups and 708 of 1,610 Health startups in Australia based in Victoria.p.4
2. Megadeals peaked in 2025, fuelled by Airwallex rounds of AU$510M (Series G) and AU$460M (Series F) and a AU$310M Series D for Synchron.p.15
3. Breakout stage investment is its biggest since the record years of 2021-2022, late-stage investment is at a new record, and early-stage capital is now on par with 2016.p.16
4. In 2025, Victorian startups led the country in VC funding, raising more than NSW for the first time in the last five years.p.17
5. On average, 28% of early-stage funding into Victorian startups comes from Victorian investors.p.21
6. University spinouts in Victoria are valued at AU$6.2B, up from AU$157M in 2014, and contribute 4.5% of Victoria's total ecosystem value.p.13
7. Companies with under 50 employees account for 14.1k jobs, or 38% of all startup jobs in Victoria.p.26
8. 1.4K companies founded since 2014 employ 16.6K people, or 45% of Victoria's startup workforce in Australia.p.28
9. The top employers, including REA Group, SEEK, MYOB, Cargroup, Judo Bank and Culture Amp, account for 8k jobs, representing 22% of the local workforce.p.26