AI startup raises US$75 mil to take junior bankers’ grunt work.

The artificial intelligence startup Model ML raised US$75 million (RM310.5 million) as it looks to develop technology to replace much of the grunt work done by investment bankers — from creating pitch decks to working up due-diligence reports.

The early-stage capital raising was led by investors FT Partners and included Y Combinator Inc, QED Investors, 13Books Capital and LocalGlobe, according to a statement on Monday (Nov 24). The company, which was started about a year ago and is based in London and New York, raised US$12 million earlier this year. It declined to provide a valuation in either round.

The startup’s technology is meant to speed up much of the drudgery that takes up hours of time for legions of Wall Streeters, CEO Chaz Englander said in an interview. For instance, its agentic AI technology helps private equity partners to write their first draft of their investment committee memo right off an email, a task that would otherwise involve a day of crunching marketing materials from PowerPoint presentations and private company databases.

Englander, 33, founded Model ML along with his younger brother Arnie, 28. Prior to this venture, he was behind a string of startups he built and sold, including Fat Llama, which was backed by Y Combinator when Sam Altman was the latter’s president.

With banking veterans including former HSBC Holdings plc boss Noel Quinn and ex-UBS Group AG chairman Axel Weber on its advisory board, Model ML has already been able to win some clients on Wall Street and among the big consultancy firms, Englander said. 

Model ML has a team of 45 people and will use the cash raised from the funding round to bolster its onboarding team in San Francisco, New York, London and Hong Kong, as well as hire more AI engineers, Englander said.  

Source: Theedgemalaysia