The AI Tools and Infrastructure Australian Founders Are Building for Tomorrow

AI continues to evolve with emergent use cases, and investors are becoming more savvy to “breakthroughs” in GPT clothing. 

Australia's most ambitious founders are responding by building the infrastructure, tools, and solutions that actually matter in the long term. 

Antler Australia's 14th residency is reaching the final stages after 70 exceptional founders selected from 2,000+ applicants began just 2 months ago. Here, chasing the latest AI trend is discouraged. Instead, Antler encourages solving fundamental problems with AI as a tool, not a destination. From NVIDIA engineers to practicing doctors: these outlier founders are tackling major gaps or issues with sustainable models in response to a maturing and more risk-averse startup landscape.

Why are founders choosing Australia to build in AI?

"In Australia, I see AI through a more practical lens," says Anthony See, a serial founder transitioning from food supply chain to B2B SaaS.

"Silicon Valley often chases the big global ideas, but here we focus on solving real, local problems - like in production, mining, and healthcare."

"Australia offers a substantial base of ready, paying customers who value convenience, along with a rich multicultural talent pool that fuels the creation of innovative ideas,” adds See.

Australian entrepreneurs are taking a strategic approach to the AI gold rush, building the “shovels and sieves,” according to Dr Anna Braun, a US-born Australian general practitioner tackling the healthcare space.  

The country also offers a strong foundation for founders through grants, a stable business environment, strong international relations with major tech hubs, and capital cities with a high concentration of entrepreneurial talent. 

Yet Australia hasn't found its Midas touch when it comes to market size. Braun notes that “Australia’s domestic market is relatively small, which means startups need to think globally from day one. This requires building a product that can scale internationally, while also navigating diverse regulatory environments, cultural differences, and competitive landscapes.”

Antler’s unique selling point for founders is this coveted global capital pathway. 

“We’re in 30 cities worldwide now and recently kicked off fundraising for our second global Series A-C fund, Elevate II,” says Antler Australia General Partner Mike Abbott.

“We’re Australia’s only truly global VC, and that’s what makes us so appealing to early-stage startups; there’s simply no other VC here that invests at day one with international reach this strong,” says Abbott.

These continuity funds, coupled with a worldwide network, are what help turn Antler’s investments into global success stories, such as Airalo, Lovable, and Sapyen.

Capital efficiency is the new growth hacking

With a more volatile state of international affairs and increased revenue growth expectations from VCs, today's founders are under greater pressure to build differently and smarter - without the guerrilla marketing gimmicks. "Founders should focus on building with lean teams and flexible strategies to adapt quickly to market shifts and investor expectations,” says See.

Integration of AI is no longer a fluffy feature, but a mandated tool to meet these expectations, saving up to 30% on time and costs across core business areas. This focus on efficiency also encourages founders to pivot sooner rather than later. “The skilled, safe and supportive environment in Australia provides a unique opportunity for founders looking to build, fail fast, innovate and go again,” says Carley Scott OAM, who is building in the quantum sector. 

The timing couldn't be better. As Alvin Djajadikerta, working on scientific research infrastructure, has discovered within the residency: "The explosion of AI, low-code, and integration tools has collapsed the cost and time of iteration, making the path to product–market fit potentially shorter than at any point in history." 

“With AI, founders have no excuse but to build faster and with fewer resources. This has indeed shortened the gap between validation and GTM significantly, but it has also increased competition exponentially. While being capital efficient is a must in the current market, having a competitive advantage is crucial, hence why Antler is over-indexing on outlier ideas in the AI space rather than another LLM image generator.”

What’s the Antler difference?

Since launching in Australia in 2019, Antler has invested in more than 160 startups locally and over 1,500 globally, cementing it as the world’s most active VC and most active AI investor globally. 

Its 10-week residency is run twice yearly, featuring a highly selective cohort of 70+ vetted founders from a pool of 1,500+ applicants. The residency model offers the focus and culture to increase velocity in addition to co-founder matching, expert-led masterclasses, global reach, hands-on coaching, and pre-seed investment for the standout performers.

"Antler is different from accelerators or incubators because we come in at day one and continue to back founders long-term across multiple rounds; and support them across the globe," says Abbott.

"We give founders and teams the rare opportunity to be backed by global VC from the earliest stages, helping them go further, faster."

Applications to Antler’s February 2026 Australian residency open soon across Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. 

Interested founders can get ahead of the curve and apply here: https://www.antler.co/apply

FAQs

What is the Antler residency structure?
Antler's residency de-risks the entrepreneurial journey through a structured five-stage process - from pre-residency networking through formation and validation, trackout pitching, due diligence coaching, and culminating in a final investment committee pitch. This provides founders with co-founder matching, idea validation, dedicated support, and access to pre-seed capital and a global network. You can read more here.

What are Antler Australia’s investment terms? 

Founders who join the upcoming Australian residency and successfully secure investment will receive AU$260K for 12% equity, establishing a post-money valuation of AU$2.17M. The $75K program fee is deducted from the initial investment and covers residency, ongoing support, and operational costs. You can read more here.

How does Antler Australia support portfolio founders beyond the initial investment? Antler's Agreement of Rolling Capital (ARC) provides follow-on investment by committing to co-invest up to one-third of any external round if founders raise at least $300,000 within 12 months of their initial Antler investment, helping founders increase pre-seed cheque sizes, quicken fundraising, and send stronger signals to external investors. Antler is also a long-term capital partner, offering ongoing support through its global network of investors and advisors, exclusive L&D resources, and Series A+ support via its global growth fund, Elevate.

Does Antler Australia invest in pre-seed stage startups?
Antler selectively invests directly into pre-seed stage Australian startups that already have traction - MVP-stage, revenue-generating, pre-formed teams - provided they are less than 12 months old and have external investor interest. More information to come.

What sectors does Antler invest in beyond traditional SaaS? Antler maintains a sector-agnostic approach, with portfolio companies spanning deeptech, cybersecurity, healthtech, biotech, fintech, climate-tech, edtech, and more. Within this diverse portfolio, the firm is deepening its global commitment to AI, backing companies across B2B and B2C applications.

Why choose Australia for building and backing startups? Australia offers a high concentration of multicultural talent and domain experts, government support and R&D tax incentives, unique APAC market positioning, more greenfield opportunities, and lower competition and sovereign risk than other major markets. Australia was also ranked the 3rd highest globally for VC liquidity in 2024, behind China and the US, establishing the nation as one of the most capital-efficient and tech-forward hubs in the world despite its size. 

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