Leading MENA alternative investment manager Shorooq Partners has participated in the $6 million Seed funding round for Crunched, a San Francisco-based AI platform designed to modernize financial modeling in Excel. The round was led by First Round Capital, with significant participation from global heavyweights including Y Combinator, 20VC, Liquid 2 Ventures, and SV Angel. The investment cohort also included high-profile angel investors such as Y Combinator founder Paul Graham and Mario Götze, highlighting the global attention the platform has garnered since its recent launch.
Transforming the “Operating System” of Global Finance
Shorooq Partners identified Crunched as a critical infrastructure play rather than a simple application layer tool. While Excel remains the dominant tool for global finance, consulting, and strategy, the firm noted that “too much intelligence is still spent on mechanics instead of thinking.” Crunched addresses this by functioning as an AI-native analyst directly within Excel, capable of handling complex modeling tasks, stress-testing logic, and surfacing errors where decisions are actively made.
According to Shorooq, the platform distinguishes itself by not being “another AI wrapper.” Instead, it is designed to compound human expertise rather than replace it. Since its launch three months ago, Crunched has already been adopted by firms across four continents, with users reporting over 50% time savings on Excel modeling tasks. The tool allows analysts to shift from manual builders to high-level reviewers, automating the “grunt work” of building DCFs, LBOs, and market models while ensuring data verification through source citations.
Scaling Towards Firm-Tailored AI
The $6 million capital injection will be utilized to evolve the product from a general top-tier analyst into a “firm-tailored” solution. Crunched plans to introduce firm-specific templates, formatting libraries, and custom data source integrations for internal and external datasets. The company’s roadmap focuses on providing every Excel power user with a 24/7 world-class analyst that adheres to the specific security and workflow demands of serious enterprises.
Shorooq Partners’ backing of Crunched underscores the VC firm’s strategy of investing in category-defining global technologies that have the potential to impact the daily operations of knowledge workers worldwide, including those in the MENA region’s rapidly growing financial sector.
About Crunched
Crunched is an AI Excel analyst built by and for Excel power users in investment banking, private equity, and management consulting. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company integrates advanced AI models directly into Excel to automate modeling, error-checking, research, and templated outputs without disrupting existing workflows. The platform aims to eliminate manual modeling inefficiencies, allowing finance professionals to focus on high-impact strategy and decision-making.
Source: Shorooq
