From Pro Athlete To AI Founder — Kyle Rowley Raises $1.3M To Solve One Of E-Commerce’s Most Frustrating Financial Problems
What do sports and fintech have in common? For Kyle Rowley, it’s all about endurance, focus, and flawless execution.
Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, the former basketball player once played for Northwestern University and St. Mary’s Gaels before going professional with Spain and Sweden. Now retired, Rowley is the founder of Ankor, a Sweden-based startup that, according to his recent post on LinkedIn, raised $1.3 million to solve one of e-commerce’s biggest pain points: manual reconciliation.
In the post, Rowley reflected on the journey. “Today, I’m incredibly proud to say we’re launching something we built for an ecosystem I’ve genuinely come to love,” he shared. “For the past year, our team has been heads-down, rebuilding our entire platform, Ankor, from scratch.”
What Is Ankor?
Ankor automates the manual, time-consuming process of financial reconciliation by handling tasks such as matching purchase orders to invoices, flagging payment discrepancies, and syncing data across platforms like Shopify, QuickBooks, Xero, Centra, and NetSuite, reports Tech Funding News.
“These aren’t dashboard problems; they’re execution problems,” Rowley explained to his LinkedIn followers. “Our customers weren’t asking for better charts — they wanted better outcomes.”
Smarter Tools, Real Results
Ankor’s AI-powered automation acts like a specialized, always-on team member, taking care of tedious workflows so finance teams can focus on strategy, growth, and customers.
Integration takes just minutes, with no long-term contracts, making it ideal for businesses with under $50 million in revenue, since it avoids complex ERP migrations, per Tech Funding News.
Nordic Fintech Investors Provide Backing
According to the outlet, the $1.3 million pre-seed round was led by Upfin, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based venture firm focused on early-stage fintech. Per the outlet, investors include Juni founder Jonathan Sanders, former Klarna VP Oscar Hallen, Moss Chief of Staff Layla Qassim, Bust Capital, and Nordic angels Neil Murray and Nicolai Højer.
“The best platforms solve real pain, not pitch big visions,” Oliver Sjöstedt of Upfin told the outlet. “Kyle earned the trust of operators by being one of them.”
Representation Matters
As one of the few Black, Caribbean-born founders in European fintech and AI, Rowley’s mission extends beyond technology. He emphasizes transparency and democratizing access to information in an ecosystem that often lacks both.
“The access to information isn’t very democratised,” he told Tech Funding News. “I have a mission to be candid and transparent, not just about our product, but about how this ecosystem works.”
Future Plans
With capital secured and growing customer demand, Ankor is preparing to expand integrations, launch its 3-Way Match Accelerator, and enter the broader U.K. market in Q4 2025, Tech Funding News reported.
“With global supply chains, tariffs, and market uncertainty, the need for bulletproof operations and predictability has never been greater,” Rowley noted on LinkedIn.
Even though his basketball career is behind him, Rowley’s drive to win hasn’t changed. It’s just focused now on helping e-commerce teams save time, reduce stress, and build the future of tech leadership.
