Tracelight, a UK-based AI company simplifying the creation and validation of financial models, has raised $3.6 million in seed funding to advance product development, grow its team, and expand its reach to finance and strategy professionals globally.
Complex financial models form the backbone of global finance, guiding mergers, investments, and strategic decisions worth trillions. Yet this critical domain remains largely unaffected by the AI revolution. The tools used for financial modelling have seen little change in decades. Microsoft Excel, still central to most modelling workflows, marks its 40th anniversary this September.
Tracelight bridges the gap between financial models and large language models (LLMs) by turning spreadsheet logic into LLM-friendly data, allowing financial analysts and consultants to harness the benefits of Generative AI when building complex financial models.
By integrating directly into the spreadsheet workflow and enhancing how LLMs interpret and work with Excel, Tracelight eliminates repetitive financial modelling tasks. From writing complex formulas and validating models to autonomously running analysis from simple natural language prompts, it is a force multiplier for analysts, augmenting their skills with AI, letting them model faster and smarter without needing to change the way they work.
Peter Fuller, co-founder and CEO of Tracelight, said:
Complex financial models underpin all of the corporate world's most important decisions. Until now, LLMs have barely touched this workflow. Tracelight is purpose-built for this; it works seamlessly inside the tools analysts already trust.
Our aim is to take away the entire mechanical workload of financial modelling. Our users act as directors and orchestrators of AI that is quickly becoming superhuman at the task of Excel analysis.
That vision is supported by a deep technical foundation.
Since its launch, Tracelight has attracted early adoption from analysts at investment banks, private credit, and private equity firms, and top professional services providers. Early users report over 90 per cent time savings on tedious modelling tasks such as creating standard analyses, formatting, and error detection.
Crucially, Tracelight keeps humans in control of decision-making. Rather than replacing analysts, it enables them to build better financial models and focus on high-stakes decisions where human judgment is essential.
Aleksander Misztal, co-founder and CTO of Tracelight, added:
The financial models used by investors, consultants, bankers and corporate finance professionals are large, logically complex, and formatted according to strict rules. Our technology unlocks the full reasoning power of frontier LLMs on these files; for the first time, Excel financial modellers will be able to tap into the power of frontier AI models directly in their existing workflow.
The round was led by Chalfen Ventures, with participation from Acequia Capital, Inovo and EF, and angels including Charlie Songhurst (ex Microsoft head of Corporate Strategy) and Suhit Gupta (ex-CIO General Atlantic and Carlyle).
Mike Chalfen, Solo VC at Chalfen Ventures, said:
The most magical AI tools work at the highest level of abstraction, making them radically easy to adopt, while understanding and executing complex work under the hood. Tracelight does that. It has taken the world’s most widely used modelling platform and embedded AI where it can have immediate impact. And its rapid adoption by analysts in demanding modelling environments shows just how big the opportunity is.
Hank Vigil, Founder of Acequia Capital, noted that much of the world’s business logic still relies on Excel, even as it reaches its 40th year. He adds:
What excites me about Tracelight is how naturally it brings advanced AI into the financial modelling workflows professionals already know and trust. It’s the first solution that extends the power of Excel modelling without requiring professionals to abandon the tools they know best.
Tracelight is now available as an Excel add-in through the Microsoft Add-In Store, initially targeting individual analysts, consultants, and finance professionals.
The newly secured funding will support further product development, team expansion, and broader distribution to reach finance and strategy professionals worldwide.
Lead image: Tracelight co-founders | Photo: Uncredited
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