Earlytrade raises $10M to fund agentic AI expansion

Australian construction fintech Earlytrade Pty. Ltd., co-founded by Guy Saxelby and Piers Symons in 2018, raised approximately $10 million (A$14.2 million) in a new round on June 9, 2026, SmartCompany and SiliconANGLE report. The round was led by S3 Ventures and Brick & Mortar Ventures, bringing total capital to $25 million (A$35.5 million), including a A$12.5 million Series A in 2022 and A$8.4 million raised in 2019. Saxelby said the company plans to grow its US commercial operations and build agentic AI into its subcontractor payments marketplace.

Earlytrade says it has facilitated more than $3 billion in early payments globally and operates a network of more than 211,000 subcontractors. US revenue grew sevenfold since the company entered the US in 2024. The company confirmed to SmartCompany it reincorporated from Australia to the US in 2026, citing proposed Australian capital gains tax changes affecting investors.

The US construction industry generates more than $2 trillion in annual output, per SmartCompany, yet subcontractors routinely wait 60 to 90 days for payment. Earlytrade's marketplace allows subcontractors to accept a small discount in exchange for receiving payment early, easing working capital pressure across construction projects.

S3 Ventures General Partner Charlie Plauche is quoted by SmartCompany: "Every dollar that flows through a construction project passes through a payment bottleneck that has never been solved at scale. Earlytrade has built the infrastructure layer that makes agentic AI in this space possible."

Saxelby is quoted by SmartCompany: "Strong US growth has made one thing clear: the time is right to make a significant investment in agentic AI within our subcontractor payments marketplace."

Both outlets note Earlytrade has not publicly disclosed the technical design of its planned agentic AI integration. Practitioners evaluating comparable platforms typically look for details on model architecture, invoice data schemas, counterparty risk scoring, orchestration layers connecting models to payment rails, and regulatory and auditability controls. None of those specifics have been disclosed as of the reporting date.

Observers should monitor Earlytrade's public disclosures on model types and data strategy, any announced partnerships with payment processors or ERPs, and evidence of live agentic workflows in production beyond the marketplace's existing early-payment mechanics.