2025: A Year Inside Australia’s Home for Deep Tech

The year in review: 26 new residents, 100+ startups calling us home, $600M raised, 80+ events, and 25 years with more than $8B of deep tech impact for Australia.

2025 was a year where Australian deep tech showed what’s possible. Across our 3 incubators -  Cicada Innovations, Jumar Bioincubator, and the HealthTech Hub - founders and teams - pushed new science, created new jobs, and brought world class innovation closer to market. 

It was also the year we celebrated 25 years of incubating impactful, Australian-made deep tech ventures. Marking this milestone gave us a chance to reflect on the scale of that journey: an early $20 million public investment has now generated more than $8 billion in economic activity. A powerful demonstration of what long-term support for deep tech can unlock for Australia.

Growth that strengthens Australia’s innovation engine

Our resident community continued to flourish, with 26 new companies joining us, and more than 100 startups now calling one of our incubators home. Collectively, they raised over $600 million in private capital and grants and created more than 100 new high-skill jobs across the country.

More than 30 companies graduated from Stride - Cicada’s flagship program that helps deep tech founders accelerate product development, sharpen their commercial strategy, and build the leadership capability needed to scale globally. It has become one of the most valuable pathways in Australia for turning technical ideas into real companies with real impact.

We also saw 23 of Australia’s most exciting deep tech ventures take to the stage at this year’s Tech23, showcasing the ambition and ingenuity driving the sector forward. 

Together, these ventures form the backbone of a future economy powered by world class science and engineering.

Deep tech startups we championed thrived

The heart of our success lies in the advancements and achievements of the startups in our community make each year, 2025 was no exception:

• Clarity Pharmaceuticals – Completed an impressive A$203 million institutional placement
• Conry Tech – Raised $3M
• Crest Robotics – Signed a deal with Transgrid + were featured on ABC/7/10 News
• Curemza & Equinox Medical – Were featured on the City of Parramatta and are involved in a co-development project 
• DermR Health –  Received $500k support from the part of Future Health Research and Innovation Fund
• Gega Elements –  Received $925,000 in pre-seed funding
• Gelion – Raised £10M on London AIM
• Morse Micro – Raised $88M; now valued at $500M
• Nutromics – Raised $7.5M to launch their world’s first Lab-on-a-Patch® platform
• Osara Health – Named by TIME as one of the World’s Top HealthTech Companies 2025
• Puralink – Achieved Forbes 30 Under 30 + raised $2.3M seed funding
• RAGE Biotech – Raised $29M 
• Syenta – Raised $8.8M 
• Tessara Therapeutics – signed a $150 Million Collaboration with Regeneron 
• Tetratherix – Listed on the ASX
• Uluu – Raised $16M to build a new demonstration plant for its tech
• Xefco – Signed a commercial rollout deal with SWS for their waterless dyeing and finishing technology, Ausora®

The National Space Industry Hub community made a strong showing at IAC Sydney 2025, with 24 of our program participants and residents representing Australia.

We were also proud to see our community recognised among the Australian 100 Innovators, including Archer Materials, GegaElements, Puralink, Syenta, SpeeDx, Aquila, Alt.Leather, Kapture, Electralith, and Q-CTRL.

Our extended ecosystem

In 2025, we brought more than 7,000 people together through 80+ events and programs, from showcases to founder roundtables. Cicada x Tech23 drew over 450 attendees and reached more than 21 million people worldwide through media and social coverage. 

We also welcomed over 60 delegations and leaders from government, industry, and global innovation hubs from South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, the UAE, the United States, Switzerland, Japan, India, the Netherlands, and Italy. A testament to the global attention Australia’s deep tech sector is now attracting.

Our team grew as well. We welcomed 9 new colleagues, including our new CEO, Liza Noonan, along with Anna Figueiredo, Alex Lipp, Eithne McLaughlin,  Florenza Marvella, and Joel Bloomer, Jonathan O’Dowd, Samantha Sincich, and celebrated Angelica Lau returning from maternity leave.

We were also fortunate to host dozens of mentors, experts, and speakers across the year — including, Dr. Alexander Post (MGA Thermal), Brooke Sauer (Boolah Pure Network), Chris Wilson (Hifi Ortho), Dan Ceperley (LeoLabs), Daniel Scott (Alkira Bio), Daniel Wan (Flavour IQ), Dr. Elisa Mokany (Speedx), Emerald Scofield (Main Sequence Ventures), Niki Scevak (Blackbird), Shan Shan Wang (Roam Tech), Simon Poole (Indx, Engana, Optium, Cylite), Steve Kessel (ex-Amazon), Tim Atkins (Osara Health) and Tim Parsons (Cicada Innovations), and many more — who generously shared their expertise with our community.

Thank you

To our founders, residents, program participants, alumni, partners, mentors, and staff — thank you for making 2025 such a memorable and impactful year. Your ambition and resilience continue to shape Australia’s deep tech future.

Cicada Innovations is Australia's leading deep tech incubator. With a 25 year track record of developing ventures focused on the world’s most pressing problems and promising opportunities. Their network of incubators, training, and community is designed to meet the unique needs of deep tech startups. Cicada Innovations has been the home of groundbreaking science and bold engineering, transforming ideas into world-changing ventures, reshaping industries, and driving deep tech success stories in fibre optics, space, medtech, and climate innovation, delivering tangible impact for Australia and the world. They are committed to building Australia's deep tech economy.