‘AI coworker’ for CFOs startup raises $8.7 Mn

• Meet Sapien: the autonomous coworker for CFOs.
• This AI-powered platform is transforming finance workflows, giving finance teams a new edge.
• It just secured an $8.7 million seed round.

Revolutionizing the CFO Stack

A game-changing platform for finance professionals just launched on October 29th.

Sapien is an AI-powered startup that aims to transform days-long analysis and financial operations into tasks completed in mere minutes.

This “autonomous coworker” which is designed to streamline financial workflows raised an $8.7 million seed fund, as first reported by Fortune.

Founders

Sapien is the brainchild of three innovative founders:

• CEO Ron Nachum
• CTO Pranav Ravella
• Chief Scientist Arya Grayeli

They attended top universities – Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Texas at Austin.

Their combined passion for machine learning, finance, and a drive to solve the most monotonous finance processes ultimately led to Sapien.

Idea

Grayeli’s father, an investment advisor, often discussed the repetitive tasks in finance with him.

Inspired, Grayeli delved into machine learning, while Nachum and Ravella studied finance and tech, ultimately deciding to create Sapien.

Also read: Ex-Mensa Brands Controller’s startup raises $1.62M seed round

Sapien’s mission

• To create an AI-native system that dives deep into financial data integrates seamlessly with popular tools like Excel and ERP systems, and learns continuously with every interaction.
• Intelligent query handling: The platform can break down and analyze complex finance queries, giving finance professionals the power to challenge and refine assumptions along the way.
• Dynamic adaptability: Sapien’s autonomous coworker learns more about each organization with every task, personalizing its insights to the user’s business needs.

Backed by the best in Venture Capital

Sapien’s seed round was supported by some of the best in the industry.

Key investors include:

• General Catalyst (Managing Director – Niko Bonatsos and Partner Max Rimpel )
• Neo, an early-stage VC and startup accelerator.

Angels:

• Bryan Baum (K5 Ventures),
• Russell Kaplan (Cognition),
• Claire Hughes Johnson (Stripe),
• Sabrina Hahn (SH Fund),
• Scott Belsky (Behance, Adobe)

Real-world applications

Sapien’s AI has already made impressive strides, catching the attention of CFOs across industries.

Here’s how Sapien has impacted real businesses:

Healthcare: Evaluates revenue and growth trends across hundreds of clinics, providing actionable insights.

Manufacturing: Analyzes raw transaction data across plants to reveal key drivers, reducing manual work from over 100 hours to just a few minutes.

One manufacturing client saved critical hours on attribution analysis and uncovered a nearly $10 million error ahead of a board meeting – thanks to Sapien’s eagle eye for discrepancies.

“It’s incredible what the CFO stack, especially FP&A [financial planning and analysis], can achieve with a tool like this,” Grayeli, Sapien’s chief scientist told Fortune.

Also read: 3 CAs AI-powered bookkeeping & tax compliance platform raised ₹16.8 Crores

Investor insights

Ken Chenault, chairman and Managing Director of General Catalyst and the former chairman and CEO of American Express told Fortune

“CFOs have become central to company strategy.

As the role of chief financial officers has changed over the years, it now puts the entire CFO stack at an inflection point that’s ripe for disruption, ”

“In our view, Sapien is productizing the cutting edge of AI research for CFOs, with the opportunity to truly revolutionize how finance teams operate.”

Source: Fortune