ESGAgent.ai, a Brisbane-based software company helping heavy industry use AI to automate climate, safety and governance reporting obligations, has closed a seed round led by US-Japan venture capital firm DNX Ventures, completing its second investment in Australian startups.

The investment brings total funding raised to $1.7 million and will support product development and customer growth as Australian organisations face mandatory compliance obligations across climate disclosure, emissions reporting, workplace safety, modern slavery, biodiversity and broader ESG governance requirements.

For example, thousands of businesses face new reporting obligations under the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB S2). While Group 1 entities have reached their reporting deadline, Group 2 and Group 3 organisations will come into scope over the next 12-24 months, creating significant demand for tools that can simplify compliance and reporting processes.

ESGAgent.ai’s platform automates compliance activities that have traditionally required months of expensive consultant-led work, reducing reporting timelines from months to hours and replacing manual workflows with AI-driven processes.

“We built ESGAgent.ai because compliance is becoming increasingly complex, costly and resource-intensive for Australian industry,” said Shan Vahora, Founder of ESGAgent.ai.

“With growing regulatory expectations across climate, safety and governance, many organisations still rely on old-school spreadsheets, consultants and fragmented systems. We have developed an AI-native platform that helps businesses automate that burden and turn compliance into a strategic advantage rather than an administrative exercise,” he added.

The startup has secured customers across Australia’s most demanding sectors, including tier one mining clients, major food manufacturing businesses and global engineering consultants, deploying the software across carbon reporting, climate risk management and safety compliance programs.

The company’s long-term vision extends beyond individual reporting frameworks to become the end-to-end compliance platform for Australia’s highest-regulated industries. ESGAgent.ai brings climate disclosures, safety and workforce compliance, risk management and broader ESG obligations into a single platform, helping organisations replace fragmented processes and reduce dependence on external consultants.

Alongside the funding round, ESGAgent.ai has strengthened its leadership team with two high-profile appointments that bring substantial industry credibility to the business.

• Mike Duggan joins as Executive General Manager, having previously served as a Senior Director at Ashurst Risk Advisory and advised major corporates at Deloitte on risk, governance, and regulatory compliance. His experience at the intersection of commercial strategy and regulatory risk ,make him well placed to drive the company’s growth as climate, safety and governance obligations become increasingly complex.
• Greg Steele joins the board as an investor and director, having most recently served as Global Chief Commercial Officer for Arcadis, one of the world’s leading infrastructure and engineering consultancies. He brings decades of experience across the infrastructure, mining and industrial sectors and is widely regarded as one of the industry’s most accomplished executives. His appointment underscores the confidence in ESGAgent.ai’s platform and market opportunity.

Yurika Imuta, Principal at DNX Ventures, said, ” ESGAgent.ai is our second Australian investment, which reflects our confidence in the strength of the nation’s innovation and the company’s vision to transform how heavy industry manages compliance using a native AI platform.

“ESGAgent.ai has demonstrated strong early customer traction and built a platform that addresses the compliance challenges in a practical and scalable way. We are excited in the company’s broader opportunity to become the default single system of record for compliance across some of Australia’s most highly regulated industries,” Imuta said.

Vahora concludes, “With the backing from DNX Ventures and Greg and Mike, it validates why we built the company in the first place. We now have the opportunity to accelerate the business and support more organisations as they navigate a rapidly changing regulatory environment.”

ESGAgent.ai (Klean Technologies Pty Ltd) is a Brisbane-based, AI-native SaaS platform purpose-built for Australian heavy industry. The platform automates ESG compliance, carbon accounting, climate risk management, and safety reporting across frameworks including AASB S2, ISO 45001, the Coal Mining Safety Health Act, and WHS legislation.  Hosted on AWS Sydney for full data sovereignty, ESGAgent.ai serves clients in energy, mining, utilities, and heavy manufacturing, helping them meet their regulatory obligations faster, at lower cost, and with greater confidence. For more information, visit www.esgagent.ai.

DNX Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Tokyo and Silicon Valley.  DNX invests in B2B technology startups across Cloud/SaaS, Fintech, and Deeptech, backing category-defining companies from the earliest stages.