Sydney Teenagers Launch AI Startups as OpenAI Backs Australian Founders With $5.5M
Synopsis
Year 12 students Peter Starodubtsev and Steve Zhu are building their own AI businesses before sitting their HSC, alongside established founders at OpenAI’s Sydney event, where more than 150 entrepreneurs gathered to showcase what they are building.
Teenagers building AI startups in Sydney are making their way into Australia’s technology sector before even finishing high school. Two Year 12 students are among the founders who attended an OpenAI’s event.
Over 150 entrepreneurs and founders gathered for the Sydney Founder Day celebration, among them being Peter Starodubtsev, Petrex founder, and Steve Zhu, developing Workwise. Both are studying in their last year of high school while running their respective businesses.
Two student founders take different routes
Starodubtsev created Petrex, a gaming and advertising company, which has already raised six-figure pre-seed funding. The founder mentioned the company has either built experiences for gaming platforms with OpenAI’s Codex or worked with Samsung and NBC Universal Studios.
Meanwhile, Steve Zhu is developing Workwise, an application which will allow small businesses to design their own workflows in different apps. He has been familiar with the concept of small businesses as his mother was selling on e-commerce platforms.
There was no mention of either company’s revenue or profit, with Pretrex’s funding only being six-figure pre-seed financing.
The rest of Australia’s market is also growing in its interest in artificial intelligence. The Australian private market is set to spend US$2.52 billion on AI investment in 2025, putting the country in the 9 th position globally, per Stanford’s HAI Index Report 2026.
Australia remains well behind US investment
According to Stanford HAI’s estimations, the U.S. is set to spend US$$285.9 billion was invested in private AI in the United States in 2025, over 23 times the investment amount in China which was estimated at US$12.4 billion, while also having 1,953 new AI companies with funding.
The number of new AI companies rose by 71%, while the value of private AI investments climbed by 127.5% year-over-year (global). The Stanford HAI investment report found that the value of corporate investment in AI jumped a stunning US$581.7 billion.
In the context of this, OpenAI announces that it has distributed more than AU$5.5 million in OpenAI Founder credits to Australian founders. It should also be noted that the Petrex’s pre-seed investors were not OpenAI’s equity investors, but rather a sum of money invested in the company in the pre-seed round.
Source: Dynamic Business
Pooja Malik is a business journalist with over six years of experience covering startups, entrepreneurship, and emerging trends. She has previously worked with leading media platforms such as YourStory Media and BW BusinessWorld, where she reported on business, policy, and market developments. Currently, she serves as Editor at The Inspirepreneur Magazine, where she writes and edits stories across business, lifestyle, and travel, with a focus on clarity, accuracy, and reader relevance.
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