The Australian government has allocated A$13.5 million to support six health tech and biotech startups, reinforcing its commitment to advancing digital health and biomedical innovation amid increasing public investment and recent budget boosts.
Australia has channelled A$13.5 million into six health technology and biotech start-ups in the second round of the federally backed CUREator+ commercialisation scheme, as Canberra continues to lift support for digital health and biomedical innovation. According to PulseIT, nearly A$6 million of the latest allocation is going to three companies working on AI-enabled cardiovascular tools, digital biomarkers and a platform for assessing vertigo and dizziness.
Melbourne-based WeGuide has been awarded A$1.95 million from the round. The funding is intended to help promising companies move closer to market by backing product development, validation and commercial scale-up, areas that often prove difficult for early-stage med-tech businesses.
The latest awards sit within a wider pattern of public investment in Australian digital health. ANDHealth said in March 2023 that four companies, including Cardihab, Perx Health, Sound Scouts and VaxApp, shared A$3.7 million through its own commercialisation programme backed by the Medical Research Future Fund. In August 2023, five more digital health companies received support through the same broader initiative, which offered as much as A$3.75 million in equity-free funding alongside business support.
That momentum has been reinforced by the federal budget. Healthcare IT News reported that Australia’s 2023-24 package set aside A$951.2 million over four years for digital health, including major sums to keep the Australian Digital Health Agency operating permanently, modernise My Health Record and renew national digital health arrangements. The agency’s annual report for 2023-24 later showed government revenue of A$269.304 million in 2024, up from A$211.125 million a year earlier, underlining the scale of ongoing public backing for the sector.
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