These three are the top penny stocks to invest in, led by strong business development and recent performance.

North Stawell Minerals Limited (ASX: NSM) One of the top materials ASX companies with a market capitalisation of $8.97M.

NSM announced on 24 August 2026, stating an exploration update on its recent diamond drill program. NSM released the results of the first two drillholes at the Darlington Prospect. North Stawell explores a contiguous 455 km sq. km tenement package of the highly prospective gold corridor near the north of Stawell Gold Mines, operating a multi-million ounce gold mine at Stawell.

NSM on diamond drill hole NSD062 found 0.4 m at 17.1 g/t Au from 98.6 m, more than 70 m north of the previously reported high-grade intercept in NSD057. The Darlington project is located 6 km north of the Stawell gold mine and has shown compelling geological similarities with the mine.

NSM has multiple opportunities to expand the Darlington gold system, with three additional parallel mineralised trends identified around the Darlington mine and follow-up diamond drill note NSD063 already completed with assays pending.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining Limited (ASX: KAL) One of the top materials ASX stocks to watch out for in the current market, with a market capitalisation of $11.4M.

KAL had announced on 20 August 2026 an exploration update that they have completed the RC drilling at the Lighthouse prospect as a part of the Pinjin Gold Project located 140 km north-east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. KAL has drilled over 19 holes across 3,194m with an average depth of 168m to define the extent of gold mineralisation.

The geological observations show encouraging results with alternation, veining and sulphide mineralisation consistent with, but not necessarily indicative of, gold mineralisation in many drill holes.

All samples had been delivered to the laboratory, with assay results expected to come in in the following weeks and likely ahead of results from the recently completed Laverton Tectonic Zone (LTZ) Flexure aircore drill program.

SCX.ai Holdings Limited (ASX: SCX) One of the top emerging tech stocks to watch out for in the current market, with a market capitalisation of $36M.

SCX had announced it as 21 August 2026, stating a market and trading update. SCX started trading on the ASX from 21 August 2026 under the ticker “SCX”. SCX.ai has completed its IPO, raising gross proceeds of $40M at an offer price of $0.30 per share.

SCX has reported contracted Annual Recurring Revenue of $6.5M as of 31 July 2026, an increase of 20.9% compared to May 2026, driven by new enterprise customer wins and expansion across the existing customer base. Active paying customers rose by 277% YoY to 49, compared to 13 as at the prospectus date. SCX has an active customer base of over 400 active users, compared to 298 on 23 June 2026 and 32 in May 2026.

SCX has continued to add a range of new and capable high-performance open-weight models and enterprise services that are tailored to enterprise applications. The continuous market development has resulted in token consumption doubling each month since May 2026.

Conclusion These companies strengthen their investment case, supported by strong business development, reinforcing investors' confidence in the revenue and cash flow-generating ability of the company. The new exploration update of NSM and KAL will strengthen confidence and accelerate its exploration to meet economic feasibility. SCX is one of the fastest-growing companies, with a massive increase in ARR and customer base, making it an ideal growth stock supported by both company and industry growth.