Creem, an Estonian fintech startup focused on financial tools for AI startups, has raised €1.8 million (US$1.9 million) in pre-seed funding led by Practica Capital, with participation from Antler and several angel investors.

Founded 10 months ago, Creem says it has surpassed US$1 million in annualized revenue and recently launched a platform feature to automate revenue sharing for distributed teams.

The company’s tools allow AI-focused startups to manage payments, taxes, and compliance globally, supporting both fiat and stablecoin transactions.

Creem was founded by Gabriel Ferraz and Alec Erasmus, who have backgrounds at Google, Adyen, and in cryptocurrency payments.

The new funding will be used to expand payment options, develop compliance features, and enhance its developer-facing financial infrastructure.

Angel investors in this round include individuals with experience at Voi, Mastercard, Revolut, and Crypto.com.

🔗 Source: Creem

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ AI-focused fintechs can achieve remarkable efficiency despite complex product demands

Creem’s achievement of $1 million in annualized revenue with just two founders highlights how specialized fintech products can scale efficiently when targeting the right market segment.

The company reached this milestone in just 10 months while maintaining 300% month-over-month payment volume growth, demonstrating that focused B2B fintech solutions can achieve significant leverage1.

This efficiency contrasts with traditional fintech scaling patterns, where companies typically require much larger teams to handle the complexity of financial products and regulatory compliance.

Creem’s success stems from building developer-first tools specifically for AI startups, a market segment that values automated, programmable financial infrastructure over human-intensive services.

The founders’ technical background from Google and Adyen likely enabled them to build robust systems that can handle compliance, multi-party payouts, and global payments without requiring extensive operational overhead1.

2️⃣ Financial infrastructure gaps create opportunities as AI startups face unique operational challenges

AI startups encounter distinct financial management complexities that traditional banking tools weren’t designed to handle, creating space for specialized solutions like Creem.