An Australian AI startup went from a $750K Y Combinator cheque to a $22M Series A in under two years. The detail that stood out: some of its own customers invested in the round.
What it does
Phonely builds AI agents that answer the phone. They book appointments, answer customer questions and handle calls in a natural-sounding voice, set up in minutes from a company’s website. It now handles millions of calls a month across thousands of businesses. One customer reportedly replaced 350 human agents in a month. Another, Engage CX, says it sold millions of dollars of insurance policies through Phonely in the first four months of 2026.
The raise
The Series A was US$16M (about $22M), led by Base10 Partners with Y Combinator back in, at a reported US$100M valuation. Three enterprise customers, Etech Global Services, TSA Group and Engage CX, invested alongside their contracts. Customers putting their own money into a vendor does not happen often.
The founders
Phonely was founded in 2023 by Will Bodewes, a PhD AI researcher, and Nisal Ranasinghe. It spun out of the University of Melbourne’s AI research lab, launched in early 2024, and is now based in San Francisco.
My read
The AI receptionist category is getting crowded globally. When your customers back you with their own money, that is a stronger signal than most metrics on a pitch deck.