ProcurePro made the top 10 at Startup World Cup in San Francisco from a field of 156 startups, and into the Grand Finale for a US$1 million investment prize.
Cofounder and head of product Tim Rogers pitched to 3,000 investors, founders and operators at the Grand Finale on Friday night. ProcurePro uses AI to understand what construction costs, has passed US$10 million in annual recurring revenue and is backed by QIC Ventures and Airtree.
ProcurePro won the Queensland region final earlier this year. Rogers is part of a Startup & Angels delegation of founders from Australia, France, Morocco and Pan-Africa. Six pitched across two days of semi-finals at one of the world’s largest pitch competitions, including Australia’s Tori Fox from Arelis, and Shan-Shan Wang from Roam Technologies).
The wider delegation included Australian founders Judy Sahay from ID.Ai, Peter Kakris from ScreenCoach and Cassandra Cadorin from My Command Centre, and Axel Peyrière from Auto24.Africa.
Health startups led the field with about 24% of pitches, followed by AI software (19%) and climate (15%).
Vinisha Rathod, program lead, Australia, at Startup & Angels said the startups this year, and their focus on artificial intelligence, had the vibe of the 1990s and the rise of the digital era.
“The companies that laid the foundations then, such as Amazon, Google and PayPal, shaped the next 25 years,” she said.
“AI is at that point now. Whoever builds the infrastructure now builds the future, and Australian founders are building it. Now we want the whole country behind Tim, the way we get behind our teams in international sport.”
Experts at the event named agentic workflows and physical AI as the biggest opportunities in the market.
The advice for Australians was blunt. One speaker told founders to “leave tall poppy syndrome in Australia” and back themselves on the world stage.
Australia’s Consul-General, Christopher Ketter, welcomed founders, investors and ecosystem leaders to the Startup & Angels Networking Night on Wednesday, talking about Austrade’s Landing Pads program, which helps Australian companies grow in the US.
Startup & Angels has spent 10 years helping companies grow across a network spanning 20 countries, supporting them as they expand into new markets and recruit the right people at the right time. In 2026, it ran seven Startup World Cup events across France, Belgium, Morocco and Australia.
