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Sydney-based startup Lorikeet is fluffing up its plumage today after hatching its third capital raise in 10 months, securing a US$35 million ($54 million) Series A to accelerate product development and go-to-market efforts for its advanced "AI concierges".
Taking the concept of AI chatbots to a new level, and seemingly changing its terminology to distance itself from the term's buzzword connotations, Lorikeet has seen 10x revenue growth since its public launch in October with high-profile customers from Linktree to Flex secured across the United States, Europe, and Australia.
The funding round was led by leading fintech venture capital (VC) fund QED Investors with participation from Blackbird, Square Peg, Skip Capital, Capital49, Operator Partners, Airtree, and Athletic Ventures.
This takes Lorikeet's total capital raised to US$50 million ($77 milion), of which $14 million was announced just in February this year at a valuation the company claimed was $100 million.
Lorikeet claims its growth is underpinned by a strategy to build customer concierges that go far beyond traditional support bots, not only answering questions but making judgement calls and taking action o solve problems across chat, email, and voice.
"Even if they're wrapped up in 'AI agent' buzzwords, chatbots that recite self-serve FAQ steps are fundamentally unable to solve the types of issues customers have in the real world," says Lorikeet co-founder and CEO Steve Hind, who featured for the first time in this year's Australia's Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs list.
"Customers don't want to be told how to fix their problems. They want a concierge that actually solves them. That's what we've focused on from day one."
The company claims that while competitors focused on chatbots that pick the low-hanging fruit, one of Lorikeet's first deployments was end-to-end handling of lost, stolen, and missing debit cards, with its AI concierge determining eligibility, updating the customer's address, and dispatching a replacement card without human intervention.
That ability to actually do it hinges on Lorikeet's unique approach to AI safety and operational guardrails. Rather than giving the AI open access to risky actions like canceling customer accounts, Lorikeet uses granular permissions and dynamic gating to enforce safe, auditable execution.
"While others were picking the low-hanging fruit, we built a ladder," Hind explains.
"We decided from the start that we didn't want to focus on FAQ summaries. We focused on working with companies in highly regulated sectors like financial services, healthcare, and energy in order to challenge ourselves to build a system able to take high-consequence actions in the toughest environments."
Lorikeet is the first company since Canva to receive early-stage backing from all three of Australia's top VCs - Blackbird, Square Peg and Airtree, alongside an international syndicate led by QED Investors.
"As fintech specialists for more than a decade, we are keenly aware of the unique challenges fintechs and financial services companies face in customer experience," says QED Investors principal Victoria Zuo.
"Complex industries need unique solutions, and the AI revolution continues to reduce costs and improve customer experience. While others are building chatbots that push customers toward self-service, Lorikeet has cracked the code on AI that actually resolves issues end to end.
"Their approach to safe, controlled automation in financial services and other complex industries is exactly what the market needs, and their early traction with leading fintechs validates the massive opportunity ahead.
"With new capital in hand and a clear product advantage, Lorikeet plans to double down on R&D and global go-to-market efforts in the second half of 2025."
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