Flourish Ventures’ Post

James Malone sat outside a busy cafe on a call with Jason and I, and his enthusiasm for PayDesk, fintech, and making life easier was contagious. Keeping a cool head throughout, it became clear to the team afterward that something magical had just happened -- an abundant opportunity if you will. That's why we'’re thrilled to introduce James to you, serving as founder and CEO of Paydesk AI With over 20 years of experience in corporate finance, fintech, and startups, James brings a wealth of knowledge and strategic vision to the field of AI-driven financial solutions. A graduate of Babson College and MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and a seasoned finance executive, James has dedicated his career to simplifying complex financial operations for businesses. Paydesk AI is James's latest venture, a fintech platform that harnesses artificial intelligence to meet essential business needs in invoice management, cash flow optimization, and debt compliance. Designed for SMBs and financial institutions, Paydesk AI enables companies to streamline workflows and gain actionable insights to boost financial health and compliance. A participant in the MIT-affiliated C10 Labs accelerator, Paydesk AI has achieved significant early traction with live pilots and is poised for substantial growth under James’s leadership. His expertise, combined with a passion for operational excellence, positions Paydesk AI as a powerful tool for businesses aiming to simplify their financial management and focus on growth. Want to find out more, and watch James share his story? Sign up for The Abundance Summit using the link in the comments section. #startups #earlystage #BostonNewTech #TheAbundanceSummit

Belgian fintech startup Predikt secured a $750k in funding to produce AI driven financial forecasting Belgian-Swiss #fintech startup #Predikt has secured €750,000 in funding to advance its #AI-driven financial forecasting platform. Founded by CEO Nick Vandesype and spun out of R&D at KU Leuven, Predikt aims to revolutionize how CFOs and finance teams at large companies and multinationals enhance their financial forecasts. Predikt's platform utilizes advanced predictive models, integrating internal financial data with over 10 million external macroeconomic indicators—including global commodity prices, consumer behavior, and inflation rates. This comprehensive approach enables companies to make more accurate forecasts for key performance indicators like revenue, costs, and profit, helping them anticipate market shifts and make informed strategic decisions. The funding round saw investments from notable entrepreneurs such as Louis Jonckheere (CEO of Wintercircus and co-founder of Showpad), Joris Van Der Gucht (founder of Silverfin), Jorn Vanysacker and Gilles Mattelin (founders of Henchman), Matthias Gerooms (co-founder of Lighthouse), along with the global consulting agency Keyrus. Commenting on the investment, Louis Jonckheere stated, "The early traction with first customers is proof that Predikt is not just capitalizing on a trend but truly offers a solution to a crucial problem CFOs are struggling with today. Nick and his team have become experts in predictive analytics through years of experience, so I strongly believe in the future of their solution." The article on Tech.eu in the first comment.

Point72 Ventures Shifts Focus from Fintech to AI Point72 Ventures has terminated five investors from its fintech and digital assets teams, pivoting towards AI and defense technology investments. This strategic shift follows recent investments in AI companies like ValidMind and Brightwave. The firm, led by Steven Cohen, is optimizing its resources to capitalize on the growing opportunities in AI. This move signifies a broader industry trend where AI is becoming a focal point for innovation and growth. #AI #Fintech #Investing #Point72Ventures #TechTrends #Innovation

Erin Griffith’s article in the New York Times on AI’s role in reversing a sharp decline in startup funding is a fascinating read. As quoted in the article, IVP investor Tom Loverro just last year saw start-ups facing a “mass extinction event,” with investments slashed. This year he’s calling it the “Great Awakening,” like gas on fire, writing on X that the “-AI train is leaving the station & you need to be on it.” Now will this tide truly float all boats, or only some? And will it be more sustainable than other such rushes to the tech market? Has “Sam Altman cancelled the recession,” as Runway Financial’s Siqi Chen joked? All to be decided. But one thing is clear: these investments do feed incredible innovations in the field, and with these comes opportunity. With the right talent, and a responsible foundation, this movement can lead to sustainable growth, and I’m excited to be a part of the journey.   https://lnkd.in/g7Gi9cWC

Accend (YC S23) raises $3.2 million to reinvent fintech operations and compliance workflows #Accend, a startup revolutionizing compliance and onboarding processes for #fintechs and banks, has raised $3.2 million in seed funding. This round was led by Adverb Ventures, with significant contributions from Y Combinator, General Catalyst, 645 Ventures, and angel investors from Brex, Stripe, and Carta. Accend, co-founded by Pranjal Daga, Yutong Pei, and Joseph Tianshi Zhou, is poised to disrupt the traditional Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) landscape dominated by giants like Accenture. By leveraging AI, Accend aims to streamline the complex, repetitive, and error-prone processes associated with business onboarding and compliance. The platform accelerates these workflows by automating research into business products, services, and beneficial owners, providing industry risk insights, and efficiently extracting data from financial documents. Accend’s innovative approach has already attracted marquee customers in the US and Europe, including Slope, Pleo, Rho, and Pliant. By integrating Accend’s AI-driven solutions, these companies have seen significant reductions in manual effort and improved customer experiences. For instance, Slope reported an 80% reduction in manual effort required for onboarding, highlighting the time savings and enhanced user satisfaction provided by Accend. Jessica Verrilli, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Adverb Ventures, praised the Accend team’s deep expertise in automating compliance workflows, a sector ripe for disruption. With a strong foundation and proven successes, Accend is now expanding into accelerating underwriting processes, further partnering with fast-growing fintechs to bring these innovations to market. I personally met with Josep and Pranjal in Berlin a couple of weeks ago, trying to help with European expansion, and I can tell they are among the most driven and focused founders I've ever met. Keep building guys! The article on Axis in the first comment. Want to stay up to date with the market? Here my newsletter: - Linkedin: https://lnkd.in/d4h8zqKA  - Substack: https://lnkd.in/dzfGJzmW

The economic power of AI at this moment in time is demonstrated yet again, this time by its impact on startups. As profiled in The New York Times, investors have put $27.1 billion into AI start-ups from April to June. That’s nearly half of all US start-up funding for the period. Whether this is sustainable or not remains to be seen, but one thing is sure: it is firing innovation, and an exciting time to be at the forefront of technology. Check it out! #AIRevolution #TechInvestments #StartupFunding #AIStartups #TechStartups #NewYorkTimes

New from me: I wrote about how AI founders are raising money from investors. A simple agreement for future equity or SAFE is a Y Combinator model for funding that allows founders to bring in cash from VCs without having to price rounds at the early stage. The speed at which AI funding rounds are coming together, the high cost of talent and computational power, and the often pre-revenue nature of these businesses make SAFE notes and similar mechanisms outside of the US appealing. I spoke to David Sainteff at Global Founders Capital, Shaun Johnson of AIX Ventures, and Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, founder at Artisan AI, about the pros and cons of using SAFEs or similar funding tools for Business Insider: https://lnkd.in/epeG8zji #AI #funding #capital #vc #investors #equity #funding #safe

⚡ INSART is now on Substack! Check out its Fintech Scaleup Radar newsletter for growing startup founders: https://lnkd.in/emHegEyU You'll find some interesting tools for growing Fintech startups 💡 #fintech #startup #fintechstartup #financialdata #AI #datadriven

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗪𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗅 🦄 Artificial intelligence dominates this year’s list of 𝟮𝟱 𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲-𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗯𝗲𝘀 thinks most likely to reach a $1 billion valuation Over the last decade, Forbes, in collaboration with TrueBridge Capital Partners, has accurately predicted the rise of 131 unicorns, including DoorDash, Figma, Anduril, Benchling and Rippling. Here are the 25 companies most likely to hit a $1 billion valuation: 1. Clay: AI-powered CRM assistant. 2. Coactive AI: Visual data management. 3. Codeium: AI autocompletion for code. 4. Cortex: Simplifying software development. 5. Empower: AI-driven financial services. 6. Equip: Virtual therapy for eating disorders. 7. EvenUp: Legal AI boosting efficiency. 8. Fireworks AI: Accelerating AI applications. 9. Hadrian: High-tech manufacturing. 10. HeyGen: AI-generated marketing videos. 11. Horizon3.ai: AI-driven cybersecurity. 12. Imprint: Custom credit cards for brands. 13. LangChain: AI model transparency. 14. Linear: Streamlining team workflows. 15. Metronome: Usage-based software pricing. 16. Midi Health: Virtual menopause healthcare. 17. Owner.com: AI-powered websites for small businesses. 18. Peregrine: Surveillance tools for law enforcement. 19. Pinecone: AI data management. 20. Promise: Payment plans for municipalities. 21. Redpanda Data: Real-time data processing. 22. Replicate: Open-source AI models. 23. RunPod: GPU cloud services for AI. 24. Scribe: AI-generated training guides. 25. Turnkey: Simplified crypto wallets. Which of these innovative startups do you think will reach unicorn status next? Share your thoughts! Full report: https://swiy.co/Oha6

We like to give credit where credit’s due, and this week EvryThink and their smart AI tech has caught our eye 👀 Not only is this scale-up achieving huge things, it also aims to help other start-ups and SMEs to thrive. Something we can totally get behind. Most start-ups and SMEs struggle with outdated financial tools that are costly, complex, and simply don't scale 🎢 That’s where EvryThink steps in, offering a user-friendly solution that’s like having a full finance team at your fingertips. Co-founded by finance tech aficionado Pedro Orlando and Cannes Lions-winning designer Ramon Sanchez, EvryThink is on a mission to revolutionise financial management for early-stage start-ups and SMEs. Their clever AI-powered platform is tailored to give founders and entrepreneurs the financial edge they need right from day one. Plus they’re going to be at WebSummit 2024 in November, and if you’re an early founder, you can even snag a spot as a Beta tester for a chance to get lifetime access to all its features completely free 🎉 Pretty cool of them, right? (Image: EvryThink) #startup #netherlandsbusiness #techstartup