Zalos Raises $3.6M to Deploy AI Agents in Finance

Jan de Vries · 2026-03-24

Let's talk about something that's changing the game for finance teams. You know that feeling when you have all the latest software, but you're still stuck doing the same old manual tasks? That's the exact problem Zalos is tackling. This London and San Francisco-based company just announced a $3.6 million Seed funding round. They're developing what they call "Computer Agents" specifically for finance operations. The goal? To expand beyond midmarket ERPs and move into large enterprise deployments and on-premise systems. ### The Funding and The Vision The round was led by 14 Peaks, with participation from Cohen Circle, 20VC, and some notable angel investors. It's a significant vote of confidence in their approach. William Fairbairn, Zalos's CEO and co-founder, put it perfectly. "Finance teams have the systems, but they are still doing the work manually because the stack is not connected," he said. "We built Zalos on the belief that CFOs should not need to rip out their existing stack to adopt the latest in AI. We want to start by sitting on top of what is already there." His point hits home. Computer Agents that can log in and run a workflow from start to finish might just be the fastest path to real transformation. No more massive, risky system overhauls.  ### A Growing European Trend Zalos isn't operating in a vacuum. There's a whole wave of activity across Europe focused on automating finance with AI. - Cleavr, based in Paris, secured funding to automate accounts receivable. - Diligent AI raised capital to apply AI agents to KYC and AML workflows. - Stacks secured a major round to streamline reporting and month-end processes. - Munich's Interloom raised funds to develop AI agent knowledge infrastructure. Together, these rounds represent over $39 million in investment. That's serious money flowing into finance automation. Zalos's strategy fits right into this shift. They deploy agents that work on top of existing ERP systems through the user interface, not complex APIs. It's a non-invasive approach that avoids the nightmare of system replacement. While much of this innovation is happening in France and Germany, Zalos brings a UK-linked perspective to the table. ### The Real Problem They're Solving Hung Hoang, the CTO and co-founder, gets to the heart of the structural issue. "Legacy ERPs' speed of innovation has stalled," he notes. This has led to more manual work, not less, which is the opposite of what transformative automation should do. Sure, new AI-native ERPs are an option for companies starting from scratch. But for most established midmarket and enterprise teams? Replacing a deeply embedded ERP is a terrifying prospect. Years of processes are built around it. Everyone remembers those painful, multi-year implementation projects that sometimes went sideways. "The rise of reliable Computer Agents creates a third path," Hoang explains. It's automation that sits on top of your current stack and operates it just like a human would. You train these agents once with simple screen recordings, and then the process is automated for good. They don't take vacations. They work at a speed and consistency no person can match. ### How Zalos Actually Works Founded in 2025, Zalos's agents are pretty straightforward in concept. They log into your ERPs and other systems with a username and password, just like a person. Then they take over a range of repetitive tasks: - Billing - Reconciliations - Accounts payable Fairbairn's background is telling. He spent years talking to hundreds of CFOs and kept hearing the same frustration: ERP implementations take over twelve months, offer limited upside when they work, and carry real career risk when they fail. Hoang, who left Apple Pay, focused on Computer Agents specifically to avoid the API integration problems that stall so many automation projects. The technology converts screen recordings of finance workflows—whether inside a system or in Excel—into working agents. They operate inside ERPs, Excel, email, and internal tools. They log in, click through screens, enter data, and check controls. Every action is documented in an auditable log, maintaining enterprise security standards. It's a pragmatic solution for modern finance teams who are tired of the promise of technology not matching the reality of their daily grind. Instead of another system to learn, it's a digital coworker that handles the tedious stuff, freeing up human talent for the strategic thinking that really matters.