Australian AI startup Apate.ai raises $8.15 million to use AI agents to combat fraud

Australian AI startup Apate.ai has deployed hundreds of thousands of AI agents to disguise victims and obtain bank card numbers and encrypted wallets through conversations with fraudsters, assisting institutions such as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and TPG Telecom in blocking fraud channels. The company has completed over 2.5 million conversations and extracted more than 250000 pieces of intelligence. In August 2026, Apate.ai completed a seed round financing of $8.15 million, led by Lobby Capital, with a total financing of nearly $10 million.