Sapien, a platform that creates “autonomous coworkers” for finance professionals, has officially launched with an $8.7 million seed fund. The startup uses AI to analyze company financials and manage complex workflows in minutes. Sapien’s tools are like “AI coworkers” that work alongside finance teams.
The founders—CEO Ron Nachum, CTO Pranav Ravella, and chief scientist Arya Grayeli—secured funding from lead investor General Catalyst and other venture capital firms and angel investors.
Sapien is an AI-native system that integrates with Excel, enterprise resource planning systems, and customer relationship management systems. The autonomous coworker analyzes queries from finance professionals, and users can challenge its assumptions as it learns more about the organization with each interaction.
Grayeli stated, “We found that the CFO stack, FP&A specifically, has such a great need for it.”
Sapien can provide actionable growth recommendations for health care companies by evaluating revenue and visit trends across multiple clinics. For manufacturing corporations, it can analyze transaction data across plants to identify key impacts and reduce manual work significantly.
The platform is already being used by CFOs in manufacturing, services, and software businesses. For example, one manufacturer saved time and identified a significant error in their analysis with Sapien, leading to a six-figure contract.
Grayeli, Nachum, and Ravella, who are all 20 years old, decided to start Sapien after noticing the need to automate finance processes. They dropped out of prestigious universities to focus on the venture, emphasizing the importance of trust when starting a startup.
General Catalyst led the funding round, with contributions from Neo and several top angels. The role of CFOs has evolved, making Sapien well-positioned to revolutionize how finance teams operate, according to Ken Chenault.