Our Story
Our Story
Inside Capgemini's Generative AI Taskforce, Ash spent his days helping large enterprises think about AI from the end of 2022. The conclusion surprised him. Despite the budgets and the noise, most enterprises were not ready to absorb the…
Trusted by Australian accounting and bookkeeping practices
Read the overview ↓Hide overview ↑
Inside Capgemini's Generative AI Taskforce, Ash spent his days helping large enterprises think about AI from the end of 2022. The conclusion surprised him. Despite the budgets and the noise, most enterprises were not ready to absorb the technology in a meaningful way. The real urgency, and the place where AI could change a business overnight rather than over years, was small and medium business.
Agentive® started out chasing a bigger idea: a multi-agent AI system capable of delivering almost any kind of project. What emerged was something more interesting in November 2025. The similar but simpler architecture, pointed at a single business, could effectively assist the owner: a second version of them working alongside, running the operation 24/7.
Our Vision
the AI Platform that Creates and Runs the Businesses of the Future
-
Every business runs with its own secure, dedicated AI
In the new era of AI, every Australian business deserves an AI Employee it owns the relationship with: secure, dedicated, and working from day one
-
Admin work handled in minutes, not hours
Emails, documents, and bookkeeping done while you sleep
-
Your AI learns your business and improves over time
Knows your clients, your tone, your processes
-
Add new skills as your business grows
Start with the basics, add finance, marketing, and more
The people behind it
Meet the team
A Melbourne team of engineers, accountants and operators. Currently hiring: senior DevOps engineer and a sales and customer-success lead. See open roles.
-
Dr. Ash Khalilian
Founder and CEO
26+ years in IT, software and data. PhD in Information Systems. 36+ enterprise projects for organisations including ANZ, Westpac, Telstra and Qantas. Former Generative AI Lead at Capgemini.
LinkedIn → -
Merven Marata
Business Operations Lead
Operations, CRM hygiene, outreach and hiring. Keeps the wheels on and the pipeline moving.
LinkedIn → -
Amir Vand
Senior Developer
Full-stack engineer. Builds and maintains MyAgentive and its Control Plane. Turns architecture decisions into working code.
LinkedIn → -
JP Payawal
Engineer-Accountant (part-time)
Accountant-Engineer with 13 years of Australian accounting experience. Builds AI Employee skills grounded in real ledger work.
-
Matt Taleghani
Website, SEO and Marketing; Customer Support Lead
Runs the website, SEO and ad campaigns, and leads customer support. Makes sure every client gets a fast, helpful answer.
-
Heath Burton
Customer Success
First point of contact for new clients. Runs discovery calls and demos, and guides practices from first conversation to go-live and beyond.
-
Dheeren Vélu
Non-Executive Advisor
Head of Innovation AU/NZ at Capgemini. ICT Professional of the Year 2018. TEDx speaker, AI patent holder, Chair of the AI Industry Advisory Board at RMIT.
AI Workforce
Built and run on MyAgentive, our own dedicated AI works alongside the team, handling client work, internal coordination, and the systems that keep Agentive running.
-
Agentive Mother
Monitors, manages and maintains our AI Employees and the customer relationships behind every deployment.
-
Executive Assistant
Runs scheduling, communications and internal coordination across the team and our clients.
-
Bookkeeping & Accounting
Handles reconciliation, transaction review, BAS preparation and day-to-day ledger work.
-
Marketing, SEO & CRM
Drives content, SEO and the marketing pipeline, and keeps the CRM clean and current.
Read more ↓Show less ↑
Powered by MyAgentive, the same dedicated AI platform we deploy for our customers.
Our Journey
Q1: Product Launch
- 1
Foundation Year
Agentive founded in Melbourne
- 2
Pivot to Accounting and Bookkeeping
- 3
Scale Across Service Industries
Read more ↓Show less ↑
Q2: Enhance and Expand
Q3-Q4: National Expansion
2026 Goal
New Verticals
2027 Goal
Foundation Year
Agentive founded in Melbourne
Filed provisional patent for AI agent technology
First AI Executive Assistant pilots with professional services
Pivot to Accounting and Bookkeeping
- • Pivoted to AI Employee for accounting and bookkeeping firms
- • Launched dedicated finance-industry AI platform
- • First accounting firm pilots deployed
- • Enhanced AI Employee capabilities for accounting and finance
- • Piloted with additional verticals: builders, financial advisers, brokers, property advocates
- • Tested CRM, marketing, and sales automation skills
- • Expand to all accounting and bookkeeping firms across Melbourne, Sydney, and Australia
- • Pilot programmes running with financial advisers, financial auditors, builders and construction, and marketing agencies
- • Core focus stays on accounting and bookkeeping firms
- • Reach 100 SME businesses across Australia
- • Establish Agentive as the leading AI Employee provider for accounting firms
- • Validate expansion into adjacent finance verticals
Scale Across Service Industries
- • Scale to builders, tradies, and construction firms
- • Expand across broader finance sector: financial advisers, SMSF, audit, compliance
- • Enter additional service industries across Australia
- • Expand to 1,000 SME businesses in Australia
- • Become the go-to AI Employee platform for Australian service industries
- • Proven, repeatable deployment model across multiple verticals
More detail ↓Show less ↑
That insight reframed the company. The question became which industry to bring this to first. Accounting and bookkeeping firms were the clearest answer: structured work, high admin load, clear ROI, and a profession quietly drowning in compliance. Agentive® was built for them.
Frequently asked questions
What is Agentive?
Agentive is an Australian AI company that builds AI Employees for bookkeeping practices and accounting firms. We help bookkeepers and accountants reclaim hours every day by automating bank reconciliation, BAS preparation, email triage, and admin work. Every customer gets a dedicated, single-tenant server hosted in AWS Sydney, data is stored onshore under Australian law, and business data is never used to train AI models. We serve clients across Australia with enterprise-grade security.
Who founded Agentive?
Agentive was founded by Dr. Ash Khalilian, who brings 26+ years of IT, software and data experience with a PhD in Information Systems. He has delivered 36+ enterprise projects for organisations including ANZ, Westpac, Telstra and Qantas, and was formerly the Generative AI Lead at Capgemini. He saw that accountants and bookkeepers needed AI more than anyone and built Agentive to serve them.
Where is Agentive located?
Agentive is officially registered in Sydney and headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. Every customer's AI Employee runs on its own dedicated server in AWS Sydney, with data stored onshore under Australian law. We serve clients across Australia.
What makes Agentive different from other AI companies?
Every Agentive AI Employee is a single-tenant deployment, fully dedicated to your business. It learns your processes, your clients, and the way your practice works. All your data is stored on your own dedicated server in AWS Sydney, under Australian law, designed to align with APRA CPS 234, ASIC RG 255 and TPB obligations. Dual-firewall architecture keeps financial and restricted client data secure. We never allow Australian business data to train general-purpose AI models. Enterprise-grade security at small business pricing.
What services does Agentive offer?
Two main services: (1) AI Employee subscriptions for the finance industry, specifically built for accounting firms and bookkeeping practices, with skills for bank reconciliation, BAS, email triage, and more. (2) AI consultation services to help businesses integrate AI Employees into their existing systems, train the AI on their specific processes, and automate workflows. See real-world use cases for how businesses benefit.
Ready to Hire Your AI Employee?
Book a free 15-minute call to see your AI Executive Assistant in action