Gold Coast-based Sophiie AI has closed a A$5 million seed round at a A$30 million valuation, money the startup says will fuel expansion into the United States and deepen its presence across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Archangel Ventures led the financing, with participation from Admiralty Capital Group, Antler, Gandel Invest and Ventari.
What began as an AI phone receptionist for tradespeople has evolved into something more ambitious: a platform that handles not just calls but also scheduling, dispatch, invoicing and customer follow-ups. The company describes itself as an operating system for service businesses, a pitch that resonates in an industry where contractors juggle multiple tools to run daily operations.
Sophiie rolled out its expanded feature set in mid-August, moving beyond round-the-clock call answering to include job scheduling, crew dispatch, quoting and invoicing. The platform integrates with ServiceM8, Xero, QuickBooks, Google and Outlook calendars, Simpro and Zapier, addressing a long-standing pain point for trades operators who toggle between disparate systems.
Co-founder and CEO Jacob Banks brings experience from Service.com.au, where he served as director and head of sales, and previously built a trades marketplace that listed more than 35,000 businesses, according to Business News Australia. His co-founders, Luke Kelleher and Juan Castro, contribute digital agency experience and software engineering chops respectively. The trio registered the company's ABN on August 29, 2024, and GST registration commenced on January 23, 2025, public records show.
The startup claims to serve thousands of businesses and reports monthly growth of 10 to 15 percent, though it has not disclosed precise customer counts or current call volumes. Antler, one of the investors, noted the company reached A$1.9 million in annual recurring revenue as of January 13, 2026. Media reports covering the funding round cited more than 750,000 calls handled, a figure the company has not published on its own channels. LinkedIn pegs the team size at 11 to 50 employees.
Sophiie's customer base spans electricians, plumbers, HVAC contractors, builders, carpenters, cleaners, roofers, landscapers and painters. The market is crowded: job management platforms ServiceM8, Tradify and Fergus compete in Australia and New Zealand, while Jobber operates in Canada and ServiceTitan dominates in the United States. AI receptionist rival Tradies Line also operates in the region.
Amanda Andriano, founding partner at Admiralty Capital Group and the firm's lead on the Sophiie investment, said in a statement that the founders "weren't simply building another AI application." Banks, for his part, told Startup Daily the company is "building an AI operating system that can sit at the centre of a service business."
Whether that vision translates into sustained traction in the U.S. market remains to be seen. American contractors have shown loyalty to entrenched platforms, and Sophiie will need to prove its AI-driven approach offers enough value to justify switching costs. The startup was named a finalist in the AI Gamechanger category at Startup Daily's Best in Tech Awards, with results expected in September.
Banks framed the capital raise as the bridge to international scale. "This $5 million round gives us the capital to take what we've built in Australia and scale it internationally," he said in the press release announcing the funding. The company did not specify a timeline for its U.S. launch beyond "later in 2026," leaving the exact contours of its expansion plans somewhat opaque for now.
