Kyle Rowley’s journey from professional basketball courts in the U.S. and Spain to founding Ankor AI, a Swedish startup, is anything but ordinary. After a 15-year sports career, Kyle is now tackling one of e-commerce’s most tedious tasks: manual financial reconciliation.

Ankor recently secured $1.3 million in pre-seed funding led by Copenhagen-based fintech VC Upfin, with participation from notable industry figures including Jonathan Sanders (Juni founder) and former Klarna VP Oscar Hallen.

Unlike typical SaaS dashboards, Ankor operates as an AI-powered integration layer syncing platforms like QuickBooks, Shopify, and Xero to automate workflows such as matching payouts, purchase orders, and invoices. Early adopters report saving over 30 hours monthly on reconciliation.

Kyle’s insight stems from hands-on experience, having worked at fintech Juni and legal tech startup Contract Book. “I spoke with over 75 operators, all overwhelmed by spreadsheets and siloed data,” he explains.

Ankor’s platform requires no engineering setup, offers flat-rate pricing by transaction volume, and targets businesses under $50 million to avoid complex ERP migrations. The Payment Reconciliation Accelerator is live in private beta, with a 3-Way Match Accelerator launching soon.

As one of the few Caribbean-born Black founders in European AI fintech, Kyle emphasizes transparency about the challenges in access and funding. With plans to expand into the UK market and enhance integrations, Ankor aims to streamline finance for e-commerce brands while keeping human potential at the center.

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