In 2024, the AI landscape was ablaze with breakthroughs, bold ideas, and business milestones. From redefining creative tools to disrupting legal workflows and building emotional robots, these five startups captured the world’s attention — and serious funding. Here’s a look at the companies leading Australia’s next wave of AI innovation.
Leonardo.AI
One of the year’s biggest stories was Canva’s acquisition of Leonardo.ai for a reported $120 million — just six months after the startup raised $47 million. Founded in late 2022 by Jachin Bhasme, JJ Fiasson, and Chris Gillis, Leonardo.ai made waves with its hyperrealistic image generation platform, initially aimed at the gaming industry.
Now boasting over 19 million users and a thriving Discord community of 1.8 million members, Leonardo’s reach has expanded into marketing, fashion, and architecture. Its foundational model, Phoenix, powers high-quality asset creation, while its Leonardo for Teams feature, launched in 2024, supports private model sharing and API access. With Canva’s backing, the possibilities for 2025 look limitless.
Build Club
Build Club started small — an AI residency program launched by Annie Liao in 2023 — but has since exploded in popularity. The platform allows aspiring AI engineers to complete paid bounties for real-world projects, while businesses benefit from affordable, crowdsourced AI solutions.
Backed by an oversubscribed $1.75 million pre-seed round led by Blackbird and Airtree, Build Club is developing e-learning tools and expanding its presence in San Francisco. Liao’s mission is personal: she built the platform she wished had existed during her own AI journey. For the next generation of AI talent, Build Club is a game-changer.
Andromeda Robotics
Founded by Grace Brown in 2022, Andromeda Robotics is redefining care through its emotionally intelligent robot, Abi. Designed to support aged care residents and hospitalised children, Abi uses AI and machine learning to recognise faces, express emotions, and assist with daily tasks — and even lets users customise its personality through the upcoming Abi app.
After bootstrapping its early development, Andromeda secured a $3 million seed round in June 2024, following a $1 million pre-seed from Galileo Ventures. The new funding is fuelling team expansion and a move to larger manufacturing facilities in South Melbourne. More than a product, Abi is a vision of empathy-powered robotics.
Relevance AI
Founded in 2020 by Daniel Vassilev, Jacky Koh, and Daniel Palmer, Sydney-based Relevance AI has become a front-runner in the AI agent space. Its low-code platform lets businesses build autonomous teams of AI agents to automate complex workflows — moving beyond simple task completion to organisational transformation.
Backed by $15 million in Series A funding, Relevance’s tools have been embraced across industries, from sales to recruitment. With enterprise-grade features like SOC 2 compliance and fine-tuned permissions, the startup is poised to expand further into the US in 2025. For companies seeking scalable automation, Relevance AI is already delivering.
Deeligence
Melbourne-based Deeligence, founded by Justin Hansky and Elena Tsalanidis, is transforming the legal industry by automating one of its most tedious tasks: due diligence. The platform uses AI to analyse documents and generate client-ready reports in seconds — replacing hours of manual work.
With its ability to support fixed-fee pricing models without cutting into firm profits, Deeligence is disrupting more than just workflows — it’s challenging the billable hour itself. The startup raised $1 million in May 2024, including funding from the Alice Anderson Fund, to enhance its product and roll out new features. Legal tech just got a whole lot smarter.
To read more startup stories visit- startuptodayaustralia
