Seed Watch: Early-stage startups raise over $303 million as AI and Fintech startups shine

Startup Name: LMArena

Industry: AI

Region: United States

Amount (USD): $100 million

The problem it is solving: The AI industry lacks transparent, reproducible, and community-driven evaluation tools. While model development is accelerating, evaluation often lags, making it difficult to measure real-world performance, human preference, and reliability across models. LMArena solves this by offering an open platform where users can rigorously evaluate and compare AI models using diverse, real-world prompts.

What the Funds Will Be Spent On: Relaunch and further development of the LMArena platform (mobile-first, rebuilt UI, low latency, new chat features). Building trust-centred enterprise services and advanced analytics tools. Supporting open participation, maintaining free access, and expanding real-world evaluation modalities. Scaling the platform to serve researchers, developers, model providers, and the broader AI community.

Startup Name: Filed

Industry: Fintech

Region: Sweden

Amount (USD): $17.2 million

The problem it is solving: Tax firms face time-consuming, error-prone, and costly processes in preparing tax returns, particularly when managing both onshore and offshore operations. Traditional software lacks the automation, customisation, and intelligence needed to streamline workflows or ensure compliance efficiently at scale. Filed solves this by automating the entire tax return lifecycle with AI, integrating seamlessly with existing systems and mirroring firms’ current workflows.

What the Funds Will Be Spent On: Expanding operations. Further development of the AI platform. Deepening integrations with tax software (e.g., CCH Axcess, UltraTax, Lacerte, Drake). Enhancing AI capabilities for compliance, anomaly detection, and scalable automation.

Startup Name: Coworker.ai

Industry: AI

Region: United States

Amount (USD): $13 million

The problem it is solving: Current AI tools in the workplace either lack contextual understanding of internal systems or are too narrow in function, resulting in fragmented workflows, inefficiencies, and lost productivity. Employees are forced to constantly re-prompt generic AI tools and manually manage context across multiple systems. Coworker.ai solves this by functioning as a true AI teammate that understands company-specific knowledge and executes complex, cross-functional tasks across 25+ enterprise tools.

What the Funds Will Be Spent On: Scaling the deployment of its proprietary OM1-powered AI agent. Enhancing integrations across enterprise software ecosystems (e.g., Jira, Slack, GitHub, Salesforce). Expanding the product’s capabilities across departments like Sales, Engineering, Customer Success, and Executive Leadership. Strengthening security, compliance, and enterprise-grade trust features.