As wall calendars are changed and the fireworks smoke dissipates, our colleagues at SmartCompany put collectively an annual checklist of startups they’ll be paying shut consideration to within the 12 months forward.
The 2026 checklist contains startups capturing carbon emissions in concrete, making life simpler for folks with autistic youngsters, launching rockets into house, and extra. Three of them are additionally led by ladies founders or cofounders. Right here they’re.
1. Andromeda
Andromeda founder Grace Brown with an Abi unit. Supply: Provided
Led by founder and CEO Grace Brown, Andromeda is the corporate behind Abi, a robotic designed to cut back loneliness amongst aged care residents whereas supplementing human workers.
Earlier this 12 months, the startup secured $23 million in VC funding to gasoline its growth into the US. The deal reportedly valued Andromeda at $100 million. The Collection A spherical was led by San Francisco-based VC agency Forerunner Ventures, with contributions from Rethink Affect, Artesian, Primary Sequence, Seen Ventures, Trampoline, and Startmate.
Andromeda beforehand raised $3 million in 2024.
The corporate’s Abi robotic is AI-enabled and impressed by characters from Disney and Pixar movies. In keeping with Andromeda, the Abi models can ‘be taught’ from repeated interactions and reply in 90 languages. Aged care facility Mecaware has already deployed these models in 22 of its amenities throughout the nation.
In keeping with Brown, Genesis Abi — Abi’s subsequent iteration — is able to navigating “the house independently”, if carers present the humanoid a every day schedule.
Andromeda’s speedy rise additionally led to Brown gracing the stage at SmartCompany‘s premier version of the Development Summit in Sydney in April this 12 months.
2. Lorikeet
Lorikeet cofounders Jamie Corridor and Steve Hind. Supply: provided
Australian startup Lorikeet made headlines earlier this 12 months when it beat international heavyweights like Perplexity and Aussie unicorn Canva in a listing mapping buyer spending within the AI house.
Andreessen Horowitz’s ‘AI Apps 50: The place Startups Spend on AI‘ checklist, launched in October this 12 months, ranked Lorikeet eighth globally for startup AI spend and 9 locations above Canva, which sat at quantity 17.
The honour got here a month after the agentic AI startup booked a large $54 million Collection A spherical to broaden its common AI brokers for customer support. The funding, which reportedly valued Lorikeet at greater than $200 million, was led by QED Buyers, with participation from earlier backers, together with Sq. Peg, Blackbird, Airtree, Skip Capital, Capital 49ers, Operator Companions and Athletic Ventures.
On the time, the corporate stated its income had elevated tenfold since October 2024.
Lorikeet, which was co-founded by Steve Hind and Jamie Corridor, beforehand raised $14.4 million in February 2025 and $5 million in October 2024.
Lorikeet’s AI brokers, or ‘concierges’, are utilized by a number of Australian unicorns, together with Airwallex, Linktree and Eucalyptus, because the startup takes on international customer support giants Intercom, Zendesk, Decagon and Sierra.
“Prospects don’t need to be advised the right way to repair their issues. They need a concierge that really solves them,” Hind beforehand stated.
3. Kapture
Kapture founder Raj Bagri
Additionally on our checklist of startups to look at is Melbourne-based startup Kapture, because it continues to scale and commercialise its groundbreaking carbon storage know-how.
Based by Raj Bagri, Kapture has developed know-how to gather carbon emissions from exhaust fumes and embed them in concrete, as beforehand reported in a SmartCompany unique.
Kapture has additionally efficiently accomplished a three-month pilot venture with Western Australian regional vitality supplier Horizon Energy and partnered with Deakin College’s Recycling and Clear Power Commercialisation Hub to rework these combustion engine emissions into sustainable fertiliser. Deakin researchers are at the moment working with Kapture to evaluate the environmental security of the fabric and quantify its worth.
Designed to retrofit present diesel mills, the corporate’s know-how can sequester and retailer carbon emissions from inside combustion engines, diverting CO₂ from the ambiance whereas creating a brand new, high-quality alternative for conventional cement elements.
For each ton of solvent Kapture makes use of to sequester CO₂ from diesel mills, it claims it might probably offset between 0.7 to 1.2 tons of CO₂ from being launched to the ambiance through the cement manufacturing course of. That is along with the discount in CO₂ emissions from the generator itself.
“As a enterprise, we’re tackling emissions from true sources – diesel emissions – and we’re decreasing concrete emissions, and there’s no inexperienced premium,” Bagri beforehand advised SmartCompany.
The corporate’s know-how additionally noticed Kapture chosen as one of many winners on the International Development Startup Competitors earlier this 12 months, with founder Bagri then heading to Recotech Finland for the European Pitch Day, the place Kapture was the primary runners-up.
4. Gilmour House
Queensland startup Gilmour House tried to make historical past earlier this 12 months when it launched Australia’s first regionally made orbital rocket, which crashed 14 seconds after lift-off.
The 23-metre Eris rocket was launched from the corporate’s Bowen Orbital Spaceport in north Queensland at 8.35am on July 30, 2025, when it briefly soared into the air earlier than veering sideways and crashing again to Earth.
Whereas the launch led to failure, co-founder and CEO Adam Gilmour described it as a milestone for Australia’s sovereign house functionality on the time.
Gilmour House wanted to reschedule its launch on a quantity of events, however it says the launch setbacks have confirmed to be helpful classes.
“We’ve learnt an incredible quantity that can go immediately into enhancing our subsequent car, which is already in manufacturing,” Gilmour stated.
With 2026 on the horizon, we’re trying ahead to Gilmour House’s lengthy street to lift-off lastly paying off.
Based in 2012, the corporate beforehand raised $19 million in 2018, $61 million in 2021, and $55 million in 2024.
P.S. Relating to gender pay hole, Gilmour House stands out for its distinctive figures, reporting -3.6% on the median base wage gender pay hole and -3.1% for whole remuneration in 2024.
5. Understanding Zoe
Australian startup Understanding Zoe has created a platform to assist mother and father and caregivers with neurodivergent youngsters. And it began accidentally.
The husband and spouse duo discovered themselves as mother and father grappling with the overwhelming process of managing their daughter Zoe’s autism analysis.
“We had levels and had been high-functioning adults and but we had been misplaced,” Andrac stated beforehand.
After receiving a 35-page analysis report and a frightening checklist of therapies to handle, they started trying to find a device that would reduce by the knowledge overload and provide sensible methods in moments of heightened emotion.
Once they discovered there was none accessible, they got down to construct their very own. The concept noticed Understanding Zoe type part of Sydney Techstars’ cohort in 2024.
Earlier this 12 months, the startup raised $770,000 (US$500,000) from Verge HealthTech Fund, a number one Singaporean health-tech funding fund. In keeping with the startup, the brand new funding will likely be used to construct out Understanding Zoe’s providing, delving deeper into the market and funding analysis.
On the time, Andrac stated the funding additionally validated her personal experiences.
“As a neurodivergent, CALD and girl founder, this milestone sends a strong sign that numerous lived expertise and purpose-led innovation can appeal to significant funding,” she stated.
“What started with my daughter at our kitchen desk is now rising into one thing that may change the way in which households in every single place entry understanding and assist.”
Whereas this checklist isn’t an exhaustive view of the innovation going down within the Australian ecosystem, it goes on to point out the big selection of issues native founders are fixing. And we’re solely extra excited to see what the brand new 12 months will carry to the panorama.
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