Australian startup Lorikeet raises $35m Series A to deliver AI-powered universal customer concierges

Lorikeet, an Australian startup that enables businesses create universal AI concierges for their customers, has raised $35 million Series A funding to accelerate product development and go-to-market efforts. The round was led by QED Investors, with participation from Blackbird, Square Peg, Skip Capital, Capital49, Operator Partners, Airtree, and Athletic Ventures.

Since its public launch in October, Lorikeet has grown revenue 10x, solving exponentially more customer conversations month over month. The company already counts several unicorns among its customers across the United States, Europe, and Australia, including Airwallex, Linktree, Flex, Eucalyptus, and more. Lorikeet has now raised over $50 million in funding to date.

At the core of Lorikeet's growth is its breakthrough product strategy: building true customer concierges that go far beyond traditional support bots. Unlike legacy chatbots or so-called "AI agents" from Silicon Valley darlings like Decagon, Sierra, and Intercom, Lorikeet's concierges don't just answer questions—they make judgment calls and take action to solve problems across chat, email, and voice.

Steve Hind, Co-founder and CEO, Lorikeet: "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. 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."

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. 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," says Hind.

The funding marks a milestone for the Australian startup ecosystem. 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.

Victoria Zuo, Principal, 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. 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.

www.lorikeetcx.ai

Follow Marketing Report on LinkedIn