This AI Startup Just Raised $1.6M to Pay Invoices in 60 Minutes

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-24

Imagine finishing a big project, sending the invoice, and then... waiting. And waiting. That's the reality for tons of businesses. But an Amsterdam-based FinTech called Duqu just raised €1.5 million (about $1.6 million) to fix that. They're giving companies instant access to cash stuck in unpaid invoices. And they're using AI to do it. ### What Duqu Actually Does Duqu isn't your typical factoring service. When you issue an invoice, Duqu's platform assesses it and advances you the money—without you selling the invoice. You keep control of your customer relationship. There's no minimum or maximum amount, and you only pay a fee when you use an advance. Once approved, the money hits your account within 24 hours, often within an hour. "Businesses can arrange almost everything instantly today, yet after completing the work they can still wait weeks to get paid," says co-founder Maas de Goede. "Growth cannot wait for an invoice to be paid." That's a pain point many know too well. Nearly half (47%) of B2B invoices in Western Europe are overdue. So you've earned the money, but it's stuck. Meanwhile, payroll, inventory, marketing—they can't wait. ### The AI Underwriting Engine What's really interesting is the tech behind it. Duqu built its own AI underwriting engine that automates 95% of the credit assessment process. That means they can profitably process smaller credit applications that traditional lenders often ignore because they're too expensive to assess manually. "Small applications are relatively expensive for traditional lenders to assess and process," says Herman Kienhuis of Curiosity VC. "Duqu has built a fully AI-driven credit assessment and processing stack. As a result, businesses with smaller credit or working capital needs can be better served." And it's not just for Duqu's own platform. They offer the engine as a white-label solution to banks, lenders, and leasing companies. Lenders can use it to automatically assess applications while keeping their own credit policies. ### Why Investors Are Betting on It No Such Ventures and Curiosity VC led the pre-Seed round. Thijn van Helvoirt of No Such Ventures sees bigger potential: "Credit assessment is still a labour-intensive process for many providers. Duqu automates a large part of that process while allowing lenders to retain their own credit policies. The same technology can also be applied to areas such as leasing, mortgages and buy now, pay later." That's a huge market. If Duqu can make credit assessment faster and cheaper across the board, they're not just solving invoice delays—they're reshaping how credit works. ### Traction So Far Duqu launched in October 2025 (yes, just recently) and already has almost 1,500 users. They've processed €4.6 million in applications and advanced over €1.2 million. Not bad for a startup that's barely out of the gate. The team—de Goede, Victor Brouwer, and Diederik Nassenstein—plans to use the fresh capital to grow both sides of the business: the direct platform for businesses and the white-label tech for lenders. So next time you're waiting on an invoice, remember: there's a startup in Amsterdam that thinks you shouldn't have to. And they've got $1.6 million to prove it.