Tracelight Raises $3.6M in Seed Funding for AI Engine in Financial Modelling

Tracelight, a UK-founded AI company, has raised $3.6 million in seed funding to develop its Excel-native AI plug-in for financial modelling. The tool enables complex and accurate modelling at unprecedented speed, helping analysts make better judgment calls faster. Early users report a 90% time savings on laborious modelling tasks, with the funding to be used for product, team, and go-to-market expansion.

London and New York, Aug. 7, 2025 — Tracelight, a UK-based AI company, has raised $3.6 million in seed funding to develop its Excel-native AI plug-in for financial modelling. The funding will support the company's product, team, and go-to-market expansion, enabling complex and accurate modelling at unprecedented speed.

Tracelight's AI engine transforms spreadsheet logic into large language model (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, the tool eliminates repetitive modelling tasks, from writing complex formulas to autonomously running analysis from simple natural language prompts. Early users have reported a 90% time savings on laborious modelling tasks [1].

The seed round was led by Chalfen Ventures, with participation from Acequia Capital, Inovo, and EF, along with 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, commented, "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" [1].

Tracelight aims to make analysts superhuman in spreadsheets, augmenting their skills with AI without requiring them to change their existing workflow. The tool is currently available as an Excel add-in via the Microsoft Add-In Store, targeting individual analysts, consultants, and finance professionals.

The new funding will enable Tracelight to build out its product, team, and distribution to serve the world's finance and strategy professionals. Peter Fuller, co-founder and CEO of Tracelight, stated, "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" [1].

References:
[1] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tracelight-launches-ai-engine-for-financial-modelling-raises-3-6m-seed-round-302523345.html