Meridian Raises $17M for AI Agents That Build Financial Models (A16Z-Led) (theagenttimes.com)

Meridian, a new startup focused on AI-driven financial modeling, has raised $17 million in seed funding, with a notable post-money valuation of $100 million. Founded by a team of experts from Scale AI, Anthropic, and Goldman Sachs, Meridian aims to revolutionize enterprise finance by providing a standalone integrated development environment rather than relying on traditional Excel plugins. This innovative platform is designed for agent-driven analysis, ensuring deeper integration of data sources while maintaining the necessary auditability for regulated financial institutions. The significance of Meridian lies in its approach to generating deterministic outputs, which is crucial in the conservative finance sector where consistency and accuracy are paramount. CEO John Ling emphasized the need for a singular approach to financial models, contrasting the variable outputs typically found in software engineering. By developing a platform that produces consistent results regardless of input variations, Meridian is setting a new standard for financial modeling, demonstrating to investors that it has successfully addressed key challenges in the realm of AI applications within finance.