New Zealand AI Startup Sterling Raises NZ$3.8 Million to Automate Finance Teams With Autonomous AI Workflows

New Zealand AI startup Sterling has raised NZ$3.8 million in new funding to expand its autonomous finance platform, which aims to automate accounting and finance operations without requiring constant human supervision.

The funding round was led by Blackbird, the trans-Tasman venture capital firm, and included prominent New Zealand technology investors such as Rowan Simpson, Eliot Crowther, and alumni from Xero, Vend, Pushpay, and Trade Me. The investment highlights growing confidence in AI-native financial operations software and the next generation of New Zealand enterprise technology companies.

Founded in 2025 by Nik Wakelin (former Deliveroo engineer and co-founder of MinuteDock) and Ludwig Wendzich (former product and design executive at Vend, Lightspeed, and Apple), Sterling is building what it describes as an “autopilot for finance teams” rather than a traditional AI assistant or chatbot.

Moving beyond AI copilots

While many finance teams are experimenting with AI copilots, Sterling is positioning itself differently.

The company’s software continues operating in the background even when finance teams are offline, automatically processing invoices, reconciling bank transactions, managing approvals, and supporting month-end accounting workflows.

According to Sterling, the goal is not simply to assist finance professionals but to execute routine financial operations autonomously while escalating uncertain cases to human reviewers.

That distinction is becoming increasingly important as enterprises look for AI systems that can deliver measurable operational improvements rather than simply generate content or answer questions.

AI that works inside existing finance systems

Sterling’s platform integrates with the software finance teams already use, including enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, accounting platforms, and accounts-payable workflows.

Rather than replacing existing financial infrastructure, the platform connects to those systems and automates repetitive accounting tasks.

Every action taken by the software is logged, documented, and explainable, allowing finance teams to maintain audit trails and operational visibility.

That emphasis on transparency addresses one of the key concerns around AI adoption in finance: the need for systems that can justify decisions and support regulatory, audit, and governance requirements.

Built from real finance pain points

The founders say the company emerged from firsthand exposure to the daily workload inside finance departments.

Wakelin’s wife works in finance, while Wendzich’s wife is a senior accountant. Both observed experienced finance professionals spending significant time on accruals, invoice processing, approvals, reconciliations, and month-end cleanup.

Those operational bottlenecks became the foundation for Sterling’s product strategy.

Instead of focusing on conversational AI, the company designed software that performs the underlying work that finance teams often struggle to automate effectively.

Early traction across New Zealand businesses

Sterling has already begun working with companies including Manukora, Storypark, and Echelon, using AI workflows to automate finance operations.

The company has also received support through a New Zealand government research and development grant, reflecting broader national efforts to encourage AI and enterprise software innovation.

The funding will support product development, hiring, and expansion into larger enterprise customers across New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.

New Zealand’s fintech ecosystem is evolving

The investment also reflects a broader trend within New Zealand’s technology ecosystem.

Many of Sterling’s investors and team members previously helped build companies such as Xero and Vend, creating a network of experienced founders, operators, and early employees who are now funding and building the next generation of enterprise software businesses.

That recycling of talent and capital has become an increasingly important driver of startup formation across the region.

Why finance automation matters

Finance departments are under growing pressure to improve efficiency while handling increasing transaction volumes, tighter reporting requirements, and greater demands for real-time financial insight.

Industry analysts expect AI adoption across finance functions to accelerate rapidly over the next several years.

However, many current AI tools remain limited to narrow workflow automation or human-assisted productivity tools.

Sterling is attempting to address a different opportunity: persistent autonomous execution across multiple finance processes.

If successful, that could allow finance professionals to spend less time on operational tasks and more time on planning, analysis, forecasting, and strategic decision-making.

The broader enterprise AI opportunity

The company’s approach aligns with a larger shift toward agentic AI, where software systems can execute multi-step workflows independently while remaining governed by human oversight.

For finance organizations, that means AI capable of processing documents, reconciling transactions, managing exceptions, and completing operational accounting routines with full documentation.

The combination of autonomy, explainability, and integration with existing financial systems may become a key competitive factor as enterprise AI adoption moves beyond experimentation.

The bottom line

Sterling’s NZ$3.8 million funding round marks an important milestone for New Zealand’s AI and fintech ecosystem.

By building autonomous AI workflows for finance and accounting teams, the company is targeting one of the most operationally intensive areas of enterprise software.

With backing from investors connected to Xero, Vend, Pushpay, and other leading New Zealand technology companies, Sterling is positioning itself as a new generation of AI-native financial operations infrastructure.

As finance departments increasingly demand automation that can perform real work rather than simply provide assistance, autonomous finance platforms may become one of the next major categories in enterprise AI.

New Zealand’s Sterling lands funding to run finance on autopilot

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