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 clean energy software startup Gridcog has raised US$10 million in a Series A funding round to scale its platform for modelling and optimizing decentralized energy projects across international markets.

The round was backed by a group of strategic energy investors, including ABB Electrification Ventures, AXPO Ventures, DNV Ventures and Verbund Ventures. Gridcog plans to use the capital to deepen its technology platform while expanding its commercial, customer and product teams across Australia, the UK and Europe.

The investment comes as renewable energy developers increasingly need software capable of modelling more complex combinations of generation, storage and energy consumption before committing capital to projects.

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Modelling Decentralized Clean Energy Projects

Gridcog develops techno-economic modelling and simulation software that helps companies design, analyze and optimize decentralized clean energy projects.

Its platform allows businesses and project developers to assess different energy configurations and understand their potential technical and financial performance. The technology is designed to replace complex spreadsheet-based modelling with faster analysis that can support investment and development decisions.

As renewable energy systems become more distributed and interconnected, project developers must evaluate increasingly complex combinations of technologies and operating conditions. Gridcog is positioning its software as an infrastructure layer for making those decisions earlier in the development process.

The company has already attracted customers across the energy and infrastructure sectors, including Shell, Greenvolt, Perth Airport, AGL and Ausnet Services.

Strategic Investors Back Gridcog’s Technology

The Series A brings Gridcog together with investors that have direct exposure to the global energy transition, giving the startup strategic industry relationships alongside new growth capital.

Kaare Helle, Head of DNV Ventures, said Gridcog can reduce modelling work that traditionally takes weeks using spreadsheets to hours of faster and more transparent analysis.

That reduction in modelling time can help developers assess project economics earlier, allowing them to identify potentially bankable projects and make investment decisions with greater visibility into expected outcomes.

The platform addresses a growing challenge in the energy sector as the focus moves beyond simply installing renewable generation toward managing increasingly complex energy systems.

Solar, wind, batteries and other distributed energy resources need to operate within systems shaped by changing electricity demand, market conditions and infrastructure constraints. Software capable of modelling those interactions can help businesses evaluate projects before deployment and optimize their design.

Scaling Across Australia, the UK and Europe

Gridcog will use the Series A capital to continue developing its platform, adding more advanced functionality and analytical capabilities as customer requirements become more complex.

The company will also expand its commercial and product operations across its major markets in Australia, the UK and Europe, strengthening its ability to support customers developing decentralized energy projects in different regulatory and market environments.

The participation of ABB Electrification Ventures, AXPO Ventures, DNV Ventures and Verbund Ventures also gives Gridcog connections to established companies operating across different parts of the global energy industry.

With the new funding, Gridcog is entering its next phase of growth with a focus on turning increasingly complex energy project data into faster technical and commercial decisions. Its expansion strategy will center on scaling that modelling infrastructure as investment in decentralized clean energy systems continues across its core international markets.