Crunched
Y Combinator-backed startup whose AI agent works inside Microsoft Excel to check, build and populate financial models for consulting, investment banking and private equity teams. It raised a USD 6 million seed round in early 2026.
Industry: AI finance software | Location: San Francisco, United States | Founded: 2025 | Total Funding: USD 6M
About Crunched
Crunched builds an AI analyst that works inside Microsoft Excel, aimed at power users in consulting, investment banking and private equity. According to its Y Combinator listing, the tool error-checks workbooks end to end, builds financial models from scratch and handles routine work such as extracting data from information memoranda and linking it into template models. The founders describe it as built by and for Excel power users. The company is backed by Y Combinator. Its Y Combinator profile names Philip Borge as co-founder and chief executive, previously at McKinsey's private equity practice and chief executive of an AI optician concept called Okkult, and Lars Gjardar Musæus as co-founder and chief technology officer. Markus Skagemo is also identified by the company's own posts as a co-founder, and Michael Sakowski is named in the launch announcement as a collaborator who worked with the team on modelling projects at McKinsey. One directory additionally lists Matthew Reims among the founders. Crunched raised a USD 6 million seed round. The Presight–Shorooq AI Fund, a USD 100 million vehicle launched in September 2025 by Abu Dhabi's Presight and Shorooq Partners, took part, and Crunched was one of five companies in the fund's first-quarter deployments alongside NodeShift, Candid, Hebbia and Blue. The Middle East Startup Digest reported that the round was led by First Round Capital with participation from Y Combinator, 20VC, Liquid 2 Ventures and SV Angel. A Norwegian job advertisement from the company cites NOK 55 million in seed funding, which is broadly consistent with that figure. Other directories list different totals, including USD 6.5 million and USD 500,000. The fund announcement describes Crunched as San Francisco-based, while CB Insights lists Oslo. Company job postings say that after months in San Francisco the company is building its engineering base in Oslo, and Skagemo has described offices in New York and London for go-to-market work and Oslo for engineering. The company reports that its product is live with firms across six European countries and says it plans to expand in the US. It lists users at firms including BCG, BDO, CBRE, Dentsu, Pareto, PwC, INSEAD and Harvard, and reports time savings of more than 50 percent on Excel modelling tasks; these are company-stated figures.
Leadership
- Philip Borge, Co-founder and CEO
- Lars Gjardar Musæus, Co-founder and CTO
- Michael Sakowski, Co-founder
- Markus Skagemo, Co-founder