About Startmate
Startmate is a venture capital firm founded in 2010. It is primarily based out of Sydney, Australia. As of Aug 2026, Startmate is an active investor, having invested in 171 companies, with 7 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Seed round in Australia based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to High Tech and Consumer. Most recently it participated in the $***** Series A round of Vexev Overall, Startmate portfolio has seen 1 unicorn, 2 IPOs and 10 acquisitions including key companies like Wordpress, Bugcrowd and Kinderloop. A lot of funds co-invest with Startmate, with names like Blackbird Ventures sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Startmate has team of 15 people including 1 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed, Series A & 1 more
Portfolio IPOs
Portfolio Unicorns
Portfolio Soonicorns
Startmate's List of Top Investments
Startmate has a portfolio of 171 companies, one of which is a Unicorn. Their most notable investments are in Brandcrush and Nightingale Housing.Their portfolio spans across Australia, New Zealand, United States and 5 more locations. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, High Tech, Consumer and 35 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A and 1 more. Here is the list of top investments by Startmate:1. Happy
Provider of centralized maintenance, asset, and property management software solutions. The platform offers tools for service requests, unit turnover, preventative maintenance, and scheduling. It facilitates capital project oversight, fixed asset tracking, and property budgeting. The software also supports property inspections, resident satisfaction initiatives, and reporting.
Key facts about Happy
- Founded Year: 2011
- Location: Carlsbad (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $77.9M
- Employee Count: 245 as on Apr 30, 2026
- Investors: Supercharge Capital, York IE and 32 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Jan 18, 2022, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. Wordpress
Provider of website hosting, domain name registration, and website building. It offers tools for creating websites, blogs, and online stores. Services include domain registration, website themes, and various plugins. The platform provides options for website design, email, and marketing.
Key facts about Wordpress
- Founded Year: 2005
- Location: United States
- Annual Revenue: £10M - £50M as on Dec 31, 2021
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $28K
- Employee Count: 1 as on May 31, 2026
- Investors: Shinhan Venture Investment, 8200 EISP and 11 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, Nov 14, 2017, $*****
- Highlight: Public
3. Bugcrowd
Provider of crowdsourced security platform offering vulnerability disclosure and penetration testing. The platform facilitates vulnerability submissions from security researchers. It offers penetration testing as a service to meet compliance goals. Red team services simulate real-world threats to uncover risks.
Key facts about Bugcrowd
- Founded Year: 2012
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series E
- Total Funding till date: $184M
- Employee Count: 3,762 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: Icon Ventures, Salesforce Ventures and 20 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Conventional Debt, Nov 01, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Develops a cloud-based platform for management of drone-gathered data. It enables post-processing of data, as well as sharing it. It also provides various collaboration features. The target market includes both commercial drone operators and enterprises that use drone-based data and services.
Key facts about Propeller Aerobotics
- Founded Year: 2014
- Location: Surry Hills (Australia)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $57.5M
- Employee Count: 376 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: firmgroupsinc.com, 500 Global and 12 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Apr 17, 2023, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
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5. Morse Micro
Provider of WiFi chips to enable IoT applications. Its connectivity platform is a single-chip solution, each of which incorporates the Radio, PHY, and MAC sections.
Key facts about Morse Micro
- Founded Year: 2016
- Location: Sydney (Australia)
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $208M
- Employee Count: 200 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: Hostplus, Right Click Capital and 24 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Sep 22, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Startmate's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Startmate has invested in 171 companies over the last 16 years, with an average of 6 new investments annually in the last 10 years. In 2025, it made 7 investments, while as of Aug 2026, it has made 3 investments in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Vexev and most recent follow-on round was in Lyrebird Health.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2025 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
2024 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
2023 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2022 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
2021 | 16 | 0 | 16 |
2020 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2019 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2018 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
2017 | 12 | 0 | 12 |
Startmate's Investments by Stage
Startmate has made 73 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $608K, 6 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $4.32M and 1 investment in Series C stage with an average round size of $59M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 73 |
Series A | 6 |
Series C | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Startmate's Investments by Sector
Startmate has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, Consumer, High Tech, HealthTech and Environment Tech. Notably, it has invested in 130 Tech companies, 104 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 87 Software companies and at least 49 companies focusing on Saas.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Enterprise Applications | 34 |
Consumer | 18 |
High Tech | 14 |
HealthTech | 9 |
Environment Tech | 8 |
Others | 86 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Startmate's Investments by Geography
Startmate has made most investments in Australia (64), followed by United States where it has made 9 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Australia | 64 |
United States | 9 |
New Zealand | 3 |
Canada | 1 |
Singapore | 1 |
Others | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Startmate's recent investments
Startmate has made 3 investments in 2026 so far. Vexev and Arlula are the latest among them.Here are the most recent investments by Startmate:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aug 07, 2026 | Australia | Series A | 4106 | [+4] | |
Mar 25, 2026 | Australia | Series A | 2255 | [+2] | |
Jan 27, 2026 | Australia | Seed | 8481 | [+1] | |
Nov 13, 2025 | Australia | Seed | 6597 | [+7] | |
Oct 30, 2025 | Australia | Series A | 3007 |
Unicorns in Startmate's Portfolio
Startmate has 1 unicorn in its portfolio - Bugcrowd. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is Bugcrowd which became a unicorn in 2024, 11 years after Startmate first invested in it.Here is a list of unicorns in Startmate's portfolio:
Tracxn Score | Company | Short Description | Founded year | Sector | Location | Company Stage | First Investment/ Acquisition Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
66 | Provider of crowdsourced security platform offering vulnerability disclosure and penetration testing | 2012 | San Francisco | Series E | pviquqv |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Startmate's Portfolio
2 of Startmate's portfolio companies have become public. Wordpress got listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), in Oct 2009.Here are Startmate's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Oct 09, 2009 | - | - | 2178 | |
- | Dec 10, 2012 | Seed | 3045 |
Acquired companies in Startmate's Portfolio
10 companies from Startmate's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Telecare in Aug 2025 by Teladoc Health for $*****.Here are Startmate's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Aug 14, 2025 | - | - | 8541 | |
Apr 18, 2024 | - | - | 5984 | |
Sep 19, 2023 | - | - | 2258 | |
Mar 07, 2023 | Sep 19, 2019 | Seed | 3418 | |
Sep 27, 2021 | Oct 09, 2017 | Seed | 1074 |
Team profile of Startmate
Startmate has a team of 15 members including 1 Partner and 1 Principal located in Australia. Startmate's team sits on the board of 1 company.Co-investors of Startmate
Over the past 16 years, 281 investors have co-invested in Startmate's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Startmate: Main Sequence, Blackbird Ventures and 62 others have invested in rounds before Startmate. There are 3 companies where Main Sequence has invested before Startmate and 3 companies where Blackbird Ventures has invested before Startmate.
- Top Co-investors of Startmate: 69 investors entered a company along with Startmate. These include investors like Blackbird Ventures (6 companies).
- Invested after Startmate: A total of 148 investors have invested in Startmate's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include 500 Global (7 companies), Blackbird Ventures (5 companies) and Square Peg Ventures (3 companies).
Recent News related to Startmate
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Minderoo Foundation Backs Startmate Accelerator with $8 Million to Support Women FoundersStartup Daily•Jun 12, 2026•Startmate
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Arlula Raises $3.4m for its EO AmbitionsSpatial Source•Mar 25, 2026•Startmate, Arlula, Paspalis, Main Sequence
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Start-up On The House launches new social out-of-home advertising ...AdNews•Jan 29, 2026•Purpose Ventures, Startmate, Extension Fund, UniQuest and 1 other
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Free feminine hygiene startup, On the House, raises $1.7 million Seed roundStartup Daily•Jan 27, 2026•Capsol Technologies, Purpose Ventures, Startmate, UniQuest and 1 other
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Startmate CEO Michael Batko Steps Down, Phoebe Pincus Takes Top SpotSmartCompany•Dec 02, 2025•Startmate
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Australia’s Uluu Nets $10.5M to Make Fossil-Free Plastics with SeaweedGreen Queen•Nov 03, 2025•Fairground, Trinityventures, Startmate, Uluu and 2 others
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Australian startup Uluu raises $13.5m to scale eco-friendly plasticsTech in Asia•Oct 30, 2025•Fairground, Startmate, Uluu, Main Sequence and 4 others
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Bioplastics business Uluu completes $16 million Series AAustralian Manufacturing Forum•Oct 30, 2025•Uluu, Burda Principal Investments, Fairgrounds Ventures, Startmate and 7 others
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Inaam raises $500,000 for impact investment platformSmartCompany•Oct 14, 2025•Samford University, Inaam, Startmate, Startupbootcamp and 1 other
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Morse Micro Secures $88M Series C Funding for IoT Wi-Fi Chip ProductionInnovationAus.com•Sep 23, 2025•MegaChips, Morse Micro, Science Direct, Hostplus and 11 others
