Australian AI founders are abandoning the build-from-anywhere mantra and rushing to San Francisco, where they can access more funding and talent.
Australia's most innovative minds have secured their spots, with several familiar faces maintaining their positions. Here’s The List: 100 Innovators of 2025.
The news: Melbourne-based tech startup Fluency has secured $1.5 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round from investors including HammerTech co-founder Bradley Tabone, Archangel Ventures and Singaporean venture capital funds 1MX.ai and Orvel Ventures.
Melbourne-based Fluency has secured $1.5 million in pre-seed funding to advance its automated process documentation platform for businesses.
Operations is one of the few business functions still operating in the dark. While sales, support, and engineering teams all have real-time visibility tools, ops teams are left without a system to understand what's happening, when, or how.
Archangel Ventures and HammerTech co-founder Bradley Tabone have taken part in an oversubscribed $1.5 million pre-seed round for AI startup Fluency, a Melbourne-based company founded by two 24-year-olds that already automates operational processes for the likes of Aon Australia and SpecSavers.
RMIT works hard to make sure graduates are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to solve emerging business challenges, but current Finance student Finnlay Morcombe isn’t even waiting to graduate.
Finnlay Morcombe’s dream was to be an investment banker. But his future swerved in a radically different direction after he signed up for an internship with a big super fund while still at uni.
Swinburne-founded software startup Fluency has launched its first product suite, designed to help businesses automate their process documentation and improve operational efficiency.
Co-founders Oliver Farnill and Finnlay Morcombe built their startup through Swinburne Innovation Studio, which led to funding from Swinburne Ventures Limited.
“By removing bottlenecks, Fluency allows teams to focus on delivering secure and efficient payment services.”
Azra Amir, Head of Process Excellence APAC
“Post implementation of Fluency, the impact was instantaneous. Clear visibility, increased productivity, and measurable improvements.”
Mark Saliba, Chief Operating Officer
“Consultants were quoting me $300,000. I can do this in two months with Fluency. This is a huge save to my budget and my time.”
Jeff Champion, Vice President Accounting - Americas
Trusted by leading operations teams
