Australian business payments and rewards platform Pay.com.au has raised $28 million in Series E funding to launch its US operations under the PayRewards brand.

The round included new and existing investors, although the company did not disclose their names. The financing takes Pay.com.au’s total capital raised to $70 million.

PayRewards will target small businesses in the United States, allowing them to earn points when paying expenses by credit card or bank transfer. The company is extending a model it has already developed for Australian businesses to the larger US market.

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Turning Business Expenses Into Rewards

PayRewards is designed to let small companies earn rewards on operating costs that cannot always be paid directly with a credit card.

Those expenses can include office rent, utility bills and taxes. A business can use the platform to make the payment while retaining access to eligible credit card rewards and earning additional PayRewards Points.

“PayRewards is an end-to-end platform that makes it easier for businesses to pay anyone by card or bank transfer,” said Blake Hutchison, US CEO of PayRewards. “In return, customers can earn their full credit card rewards alongside PayRewards Points.”

The proposition targets a gap between payment methods accepted by suppliers and the methods businesses prefer to use. Some recipients may require a bank transfer even when the paying company wants to use a card to manage cash flow or collect rewards.

By acting as the payment layer between the two sides, PayRewards aims to give businesses greater flexibility without requiring suppliers or service providers to change how they receive funds.

Exporting an Australian Payments Model

Founded in 2019 by Damien Waller, Edward Alder and Grant Austin, Pay.com.au helps Australian companies earn rewards when paying routine business expenses.

Its platform covers payments such as supplier invoices, taxes and employee payroll. These recurring costs can represent substantial spending for small businesses but may offer limited opportunities to collect points through conventional payment channels.

The US launch will test whether the same rewards-led model can attract small businesses operating in a different banking, payments and card market.

PayRewards will need to build relationships with American customers and payment partners while adapting the product to local financial infrastructure. The company did not disclose a launch date or provide details about hiring and operational plans.

Funding a New Phase of International Growth

The $28 million Series E gives Pay.com.au additional resources to establish PayRewards as a separate customer-facing brand in the US.

The decision to focus on small businesses gives the company a clearly defined initial market. These operators often manage payments across multiple suppliers, landlords, utilities and government agencies while using credit cards to support cash-flow management.

PayRewards is positioning itself as an integrated alternative to coordinating those payments across separate systems. Its value will depend on whether the rewards earned outweigh the platform’s costs and whether businesses find the payment process simpler than existing options.

With $70 million raised to date, Pay.com.au is moving from an Australia-focused business into international expansion. The US launch represents its first major test of whether its payments-and-rewards model can scale beyond its home market.

Australian cybersecurity startup Apate.AI has raised $8.15 million in seed funding to expand its fraud-intelligence platform across North America and Europe.

Lobby Capital led the round, with participation from OIF Ventures, Investible, Concept Ventures and Baobab Ventures.

Apate.AI develops voice- and text-based AI agents that pose as potential victims and engage directly with scammers. The agents keep fraudsters occupied while collecting real-time information about their techniques, infrastructure and broader networks.

The company provides that intelligence to banks, telecommunications companies, government agencies and other organisations seeking to detect scams and protect customers.

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Turning Scammer Interactions Into Intelligence

Most fraud-detection systems analyse activity after suspicious transactions or communications have already taken place. Apate.AI takes a more active approach by deploying AI agents inside scam operations.

These agents mimic the responses of real people, allowing them to maintain conversations with fraudsters across voice and text channels. While the interaction continues, the platform studies the language, behaviour and operational methods used in the attempted scam.

Apate.AI then converts those exchanges into intelligence that institutions can use to understand emerging threats and strengthen fraud controls.

Co-founder and CEO Professor Dali Kaafar said the technology gives defenders an opportunity to move ahead of fraud networks instead of responding only after attacks occur.

“Our agents interact directly with scammers, consume their time and resources, and turn the techniques they reveal into intelligence that protects their intended targets,” Kaafar said. “This funding will allow us to bring that capability to institutions and their customers around the world.”

Expanding Into North America and Europe

Apate.AI will use the new capital to improve its platform and establish a larger international presence.

The company has created a Delaware-based entity as part of its entry into North America. Incorporating in the United States gives Apate.AI a base from which to develop commercial relationships with banks, telecom operators, government bodies and other prospective customers in the region.

It is also opening an office in London to support European growth. The UK location will provide a commercial base for reaching institutions across Europe while placing the company closer to major financial and telecommunications markets.

Apate.AI will retain its research and technology operations in Sydney, separating its expanding international business activities from the technical teams developing the platform.

An AI Defence Built to Engage Attackers

Kaafar founded Apate.AI with Peter Eckermann to address the limitations of fraud systems that depend largely on identifying known patterns.

By interacting directly with scammers, the company aims to capture intelligence while fraudulent campaigns are active. The approach can expose changes in scripts, social-engineering methods and communications tactics before they become visible through conventional reporting channels.

The model also imposes a cost on fraudsters by diverting their attention away from genuine targets. However, Apate.AI’s commercial value will depend on how effectively the collected intelligence helps institutions prevent losses and respond to changing threats.

The $8.15 million round gives the startup resources to test that proposition across multiple markets. Its next phase will centre on converting an unusual fraud-engagement technology into an intelligence platform used by institutions operating across different languages, regulations and threat environments.

Australian grid intelligence startup Gridsight has raised $26 million in Series B funding to expand its US operations and help electricity utilities manage growing demand without immediately building entirely new infrastructure.

Insight Partners led the round, with participation from Galvanize, Airtree, Energy Transition Ventures and Aera VC.

Gridsight will use the capital to scale its software, accelerate growth in the United States and continue expanding its Australian business. The platform helps utilities identify available capacity, connect customers and energy resources faster, and direct infrastructure investment toward the areas where it will have the greatest effect.

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Finding Capacity Inside Existing Networks

Electricity demand is rising as data centres, electric vehicles and distributed energy resources such as rooftop solar place new requirements on power grids.

Utilities often respond by planning costly network upgrades. Gridsight’s software is designed to show operators where unused capacity already exists, potentially allowing them to accommodate additional demand before constructing new infrastructure.

The platform combines artificial intelligence, utility grid data and electrical engineering models to provide a real-time view of electricity networks. Operators can use that information to determine how much capacity is available at different locations and times.

“The grid’s capacity problem is not consistent across the network,” said Brendan Banfield, Gridsight’s co-founder and CEO. “For much of the year, substantial capacity remains available, but it is unevenly distributed, constantly changing and dependent on location.”

That variability makes static planning less effective as electricity consumption and generation become more complex.

Connecting Customers and Energy Resources Faster

Gridsight’s technology helps utilities quantify available capacity before approving new connections. This can support projects ranging from data centres and electric vehicle infrastructure to solar installations and other distributed energy resources.

“Our platform enables utilities to measure capacity, connect customers more quickly and target investment at the parts of the grid where it can deliver the strongest results,” Banfield said.

He added that Gridsight’s objective is to ensure energy infrastructure supports economic and technological development rather than becoming a constraint on it.

Faster connections are becoming increasingly important as new power-intensive projects compete for grid access. Delays can hold back industrial development, clean-energy deployment and the electrification of transport.

Scaling Across the United States

Founded by Banfield in 2021, Gridsight operates in Australia and the US. The new financing will allow the company to build a larger American presence while continuing to serve its home market.

US expansion gives Gridsight access to utilities managing different regulatory environments, network structures and demand patterns. It also creates a test of whether the company’s software can produce consistent results across a highly fragmented power market.

Insight Partners’ participation adds a global software investor to Gridsight’s existing group of energy- and climate-focused backers. The company did not disclose its valuation or provide specific hiring targets.

As electricity systems accommodate more variable generation and new sources of consumption, utilities need a clearer picture of how their networks perform throughout the day. Gridsight is betting that better data can unlock capacity hidden inside existing infrastructure and help operators decide where physical upgrades remain necessary.

The $26 million round gives the startup additional resources to prove that approach at scale across two major energy markets.