Seven Australian startups to watch in 2025

It’s that time of the year again when we reflect on the innovative Australian companies that have gained traction throughout the year and are poised for greatness in the new year.

Each December, the SmartCompany editorial team puts together a list of startups we will be paying close attention to in the new year.

These are companies that are having a serious crack at solving big problems, from quantum computing, to transforming how clothing is made and recycled, and new and better ways to manage carbon emissions.

They are raising (a lot of) capital, partnering with like-minded companies, and conquering new markets.

The following list of seven startups highlights some of the most exciting tech companies Australia has to offer.

Number 8 Bio

One of the most exciting trials in Australian tech at the moment is happening on a dairy farm in regional Victoria.

This is where beloved ice cream brand Gelato Messina is producing low-emissions milk — and therefore low-emissions gelato — with the help of agtech startup Number 8 Bio.

The Sydney-based startup is trialling its proprietary methane-reducing feed additive, BetterFeed, for livestock on the farm in a bid to spur more sustainable dairy farming practices.

Number 8 Bio CEO and co-founder Dr Tom Williams told SmartCompany in November the trial represents a key “milestone” for the startup as it prepares to roll out more commercial and university trials both in Australia and internationally.

This traction will no doubt be helped along by the startup’s $7 million seed round, which it completed earlier this year.

Fleet Space Technologies

South Australian success story Fleet Space Technologies is well on its way to reaching unicorn status, after raising a mammoth $150 million Series D funding round in December that valued it at more than $800 million.

Fleet Space has become a mainstay of the burgeoning Australian space tech industry since it was founded in 2015 with a mission to harness the capabilities of space exploration technologies to accelerate decarbonisation and global energy transition.

It is doing this through its ExoSphere platform, which combines LEO satellites, smart seismic sensors, and AI to accelerate critical mineral discovery. 

Already, the platform has been deployed for more than 40 exploration companies globally, including projects with Rio Tinto and Barrick Gold, and the new funding is earmarked for growing its capabilities further.

Fleet Space is also planning to launch its new SPIDER system for lunar exploration in 2026.

The startup now has operations in the US, Canada, Chile and Luxembourg, and is supported by a team of more than 130 employees.

Kapture

We’ll be watching Melbourne-based startup Kapture closely in 2025 as it continues to develop its groundbreaking carbon storage technology.

As exclusively reported by SmartCompany in November, Kapture has developed technology to collect carbon emissions from exhaust fumes and embed them in concrete.

The startup’s solution can sequester and store carbon emissions from internal combustion engines, including diesel generators. This diverts CO2 from the atmosphere while simultaneously creating a new, high-quality replacement for traditional cement ingredients. 

The tech represents a world-first, according to Kapture co-founder and CEO Raj Bagri.

“No one in the world has developed a product that can go into the concrete-making process with no green premium,” Bagri told SmartCompany.

“It’s a no-brainer for concrete companies to adopt it, because they’re reducing their emissions. 

With initial funding under its belt, Kapture wants to commercialise its tech in early 2025, following its ongoing pilot, before branching out into the shipping industry and undertaking a new fundraising round. 

Quantum Brilliance

The Australian quantum computing sector has garnered its fair share of headlines this year, but unlike other operators in the space, Quantum Brilliance has a unique selling point.

And it added $30 million to its coffers this month to help it continue to develop its tech.

Founded in 2019 by Mark Luo, Dr Marcus Doherty and Dr Andrew Horsley, Quantum Brilliance stands apart from other quantum computing startups because its technology is based on the use of diamonds.

Whereas traditional quantum systems require cryogenic cooling or more complicated setups, Quantum Brilliance uses synthetic diamonds as a stable medium for quantum computing and sensing. This allows it to create small, energy-efficient quantum devices that work at room temperature. 

The startup’s latest funding included a $10 million investment from Breakthrough Victoria and $13 million from the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation, as well as backing from offshore investors.

This capital injection is set to go towards establishing Australia’s first quantum diamond foundry to advance the design and fabrication of diamond quantum devices. 

ReciMe

Many Australian startups make a play for a share of the US market, but we’d argue few have had as much early success as Melbourne-born cooking app ReciMe.

The best part? ReciMe is only getting started.

ReciMe was launched in 2021 and allows users to collate recipes from a wide array of sources — including recipe blogs, Instagram videos, and even their grandmother’s recipe box — on one platform in a matter of seconds.

In July this year, the startup enticed high-profile investors to join its cap table in July as part of a $1.5 million seed funding round.

Founders — and passionate home cooks — Christine Nguyen, Ivy Nguyen and Will Kent had previously raised $500,000 in pre-seed funding from the Alice Anderson Fund, Even Capital and Tractor Ventures co-founder Jodie Imam.

The founders moved to New York in April, after growing the user base for their recipe app from 20,000 to more than 400,000 within a year.

Their backers now include former Yahoo CEO and early Google employee Marissa Mayer; Ancestry.com CEO Deb Liu, who previously helped scale Facebook Marketplace; Letterboxd founder Karl von Randow, and prominent Australian e-commerce founder and investor Paul Greenberg.

More than 500,000 home cooks in the US are using ReciMe, which has a global user base of more than 800,000.

Samsara Eco

Samsara Eco’s quest to solve the plastics crisis is a tremendous one, but 2024 has shown the pioneering company is up for the challenge.

Founded in 2020 by Paul Riley, Samsara Eco specialises in enzymatic recycling, using advanced chemical processes to repurpose hard-to-recycle materials.

The startup has raised serious capital to date — including $100 million in Series A extension funding in June this year — and has honed in on the fashion textile industry.

To this end, it has already been working with the likes of Lululemon and NILIT, and earlier this month, it revealed another breakthrough: its latest enzyme is capable of recycling nylon 6, which is a synthetic fibre commonly used in clothing, hosiery and the automotive sector.

Samsara Eco can see a future where the textile sector is not reliant on fossil fuels, and its latest enzyme adds to its already impressive infinite recycling capabilities.

“The current take-make-waste economy is incredibly damaging to our planet,” Riley said in a statement in December.

“We must reduce our reliance on carbon-intensive fossil fuels and instead, use what’s already in circulation.”

The Leaf Protein Company

Melbourne-based startup The Leaf Protein Company is also focusing on the use of enzymes, but for an entirely different purpose.

The startup is developing an alternative to protein from regular green foliage, using an enzyme found in leaves known as Rubisco.

Founded in 2020 by CEO Fern Ho and chief scientific officer Connor Balfany, the startup wants to process this enzyme into emulsifiable, gellable, and foamable protein, which could then be used as a plant-based ingredient for the food and beverage industry.

It’s early stages for The Leaf Protein Company, but this year it secured $850,000 in funding to hire its first employees, fine-tune its pilot plant, and refine its protein production methods.

The vote of confidence came from the University of Melbourne’s Genesis pre-seed fund, which led the funding round in collaboration with Breakthrough Victoria, and also included investment from LaunchVic’s agtech-focused Hugh Victor McKay Fund and Loyal VC.

Watch this space.

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