“Digital transformation” and AI remain very buzzy terms in the business software world, and now a startup from Romania is building a platform that taps into both concepts, and saw user traction in the financial sector, raising a decent round of funding. FlowX.ai – which allows businesses to port legacy and newer software into one place to build and run applications and services based around them – has raised $35 million, a Series A that it will use to continue developing its product and developing its business worldwide. .
Dawn Capital led the round with PortfoLion, SeedBlink, and DayOne Capital — which previously backed the company in a $9 million seed round — also participated.
FlowX.ai currently works mainly with businesses in the financial sector – customers include BNP Paribas, OTP, Banca Transilvania, and Alpha Bank – and relies heavily on third parties such as system integrators (IBM, KPMG, etc.) to connect with potential. user. Its sweet spot is helping large legacy players launch new services that can be used more quickly internally, or alternatively externally to compete with new products called neobanks. and other new players placed in the market. FlowX.ai claims that since launching four years ago, about 30 million users have interacted with products and services built using its platform.
FlowX.ai did not disclose its valuation but PitchBook listed some of the startup’s recent financials. According to those, its revenues for the year ending in December 2022 were only $1.55 million but grew by more than 735% compared to last year. We got to talk later with Ioan Iacob – the CEO who founded the company with Radu Cautis and Serban Chiricescu – and we’ll ask about the numbers and update this post as we learn more.
The problem facing FlowX.ai is not a new one. Companies like MuleSoft, Boomi, Sapho, Tray.io and Snaplogic, and many others, have long been working on solutions to make it easier for businesses to corral and use legacy and newer applications and build services around them faster and easier. .
The fact that the first three on that list were taken by Salesforce, Dell and Citrix is a strong indication of how big the business potential is in this space, and the value of that to the bigger technology players in the industry. .
The particular approach of this startup in the space is its use of AI, especially using it to automate some integration, application and service creation that businesses spend a lot of time and money doing manually.
This is especially an interesting problem, and solution, given by FlowX.ai’s target market, the finance sector.
Many banks and other financial services organizations have been on long “digital transformation” paths for years – some new software has been added to meet more regulatory requirements, the some to improve or launch specific new products, and others in response to the fact that new startups are stealing customers with better service. But the reality is that many of these companies still work with a mix of tools, including many outdated, legacy systems. The never-ending challenge for these organizations is how to get old software (and old data) to work with new applications and new data, or to get old software to work better. modern and less silent way.
Not only is it endemic in finance, but it is often seen as one of the most ailing industries when it comes to modernization and what Jacob believes are empty promises.
‘For a long time businesses have been promised useful tools for modernizing their business. Many promises have been made over the years related to the speed of digital product development, no code / low code, citizen programmers, and more. But these promises were not kept,” he said in a statement. “Instead, businesses get a thousand disjointed point solutions and end up trapped by inflexible solutions, vendors, and proprietary technologies. FlowX.AI addresses this problem .We are proud that our platform has always allowed customers to accelerate application modernization in an unprecedented way: what used to take years is now done in weeks.
Romania is an interesting country when it comes to business startups.
It has been known for strong technical talent for years but has only recently marked its place on the map of European startup ecosystems. A few years ago, several investors struck gold when another startup outside the region, UiPath, became one of the fastest growing and most successful start-ups in years, which primarily in charge of the emerging category of robotic process. automation (it is now publicly traded).
That’s why many are looking deep into startups abroad. For the record, UiPath’s Series A, in 2017, was just over $29 million. The $35 million announced today by FlowX.ai is huge not only for Romania but for the whole market, where the average circle sizes have decreased significantly with what is a huge pressure on technology finance last year.
The argument here in some quarters is that it is valuable because it helps encourage more business in another valuable sector, finance. FlowX.ai cites research that estimates that about $2 trillion was spent on digital transformation projects last year, and the same $2 trillion was lost from software errors over the same period – the idea that the Its tools can capture some of that investment, but also reduce some of that loss.
“Technological innovation continues to accelerate, but the businesses that underpin our daily lives run on century-old technology. We can use our phones to harness AI to create a travel itinerary in seconds, but it takes years for our banks to offer new mortgage products,” said Evgenia Plotnikova, a general partner at Dawn, in a statement. “Business leaders want rapidly increase the pace of change, and FlowX.AI offers an elegant and intuitive solution. It removes the legacy horse-and-carriage infrastructure, and ensures that users are only exposed to a spaceship experience. Ioan and his team are further proof that technological innovation is on fire across Europe, and we are happy to support them as FlowX.AI becomes a truly global player.
