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Sydney-based startup Chime Labs has raised $900,000 in pre-seed funding to develop AI tools designed to help Australian tradespeople capture revenue lost to administrative overload.
The round was led by 500 Global with participation from angel investors.
Former Google leaders behind the venture
Chime Labs was founded by Alexis Griveau and Mathew Pretel, both former Google leaders. The company’s first product is an AI receptionist that answers calls around the clock, qualifies leads and books jobs directly into the calendar.
Alexis Griveau, CEO and Co-Founder at Chime Labs, explained how the business originated from personal observation.
“The idea for Chime Labs came about as a result of witnessing family members and friends struggling when running their service-led business,” Griveau recalled. “We saw firsthand how the administrative burden of paperwork and calls led to unpaid invoices and missed jobs as well as missed time with family due to having to work overtime at night and on weekends to catch up on the things missed during the week.”
An underserved market
Griveau described the trades sector as poorly served when it comes to administrative support tools. The company’s research identified three common approaches tradespeople used to manage the burden: leveraging friends and family, employing offshore solutions or handling it themselves between jobs.
“None of which provided a stable long-term solution, which highlighted a gap in the market,” Griveau noted.
The cost of missed calls
The financial impact of administrative overload can be significant. According to Chime Labs, a single missed call could cost a tradesperson up to $12,000 a month in lost revenue. Over a year, that could add up to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Chime Labs has been built and designed to help tradies capture and optimise every business opportunity,” Griveau explained. “Our aim at Chime Labs is to support our tradies with the administrative overload often associated with running a service-based business, so they can concentrate on the things that matter – delivering the service, growing their businesses and uninterrupted time with friends and family.”
What comes next
The funding will be used to hire talent and expand the product offering beyond the AI receptionist. Chime Labs plans to build tools for quoting, invoicing and lead generation, with the aim of becoming a single platform for trades and services businesses in Australia.
“Feedback from current customers on our AI receptionist has been really positive to date,” Griveau remarked. “This funding will help us build an expanded AI solution to help with quoting, invoicing and lead generation for tradies, something we’ve had requests for from current clients.”
More information is available at www.ChimeLabs.ai.
Last Updated on April 8, 2026 by Nick Ross
