Apriority Financial, Inc. has successfully raised $2.3 million in Seed funding, led by Techstars, with participation from Valhalla, Bridge, CAN, Illini Angels, and Keiretsu Forum. The investment underscores the rising demand for automation-driven financial platforms designed specifically for the SMB segment  -  a market often overlooked in traditional fintech innovation.

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Reimagining Financial Operations for Growing Businesses

Founded by Tony Willcox and Bret Rietow, Apriority Financial is reengineering how businesses manage financial clarity and decision-making. Its platform consolidates bookkeeping, forecasting, and strategic planning tools into one intelligent ecosystem, powered by AI-driven insights and automation.

For many small businesses, finance still means endless spreadsheets, outdated accounting tools, and disjointed workflows. Apriority’s innovation closes that gap  -  not by replacing accountants or CFOs, but by augmenting their strategic value. It’s a system that thinks like a financial advisor, not just a calculator.

“Our vision is to give every founder and finance leader the same level of insight and foresight as Fortune 500 CFOs  -  without the complexity or cost,” said Willcox. “We’re building tools that empower better decisions, not just faster data entry.”

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The Growing SMB Fintech Market

While fintech innovation has exploded in consumer banking and enterprise automation, SMBs have remained underserved  -  a gap that’s finally attracting investor attention. According to Allied Market Research, the global fintech market is expected to surpass $340 billion by 2030, with SMB-focused solutions accounting for one of the fastest-growing verticals.

Meanwhile, Deloitte’s 2025 financial readiness survey shows that 68% of small business owners feel unprepared for financial uncertainty, largely because they lack predictive analytics or cohesive financial dashboards. Apriority’s solution directly targets that pain point, offering real-time visibility into cash flow, forecasting, and capital allocation.

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Where Automation Meets Advisory

Apriority’s platform automates the grind  -  reconciling data, tracking transactions, and generating forecasts  -  while giving founders actionable, human-level insights. Businesses can:

• Centralize financial operations across accounts and departments.
  
• Automate cash flow forecasts with AI-generated predictions.
  
• Collaborate seamlessly with finance teams and external advisors.
  
• Visualize runway, burn rate, and growth scenarios from a single dashboard.
  

This Finance-as-a-Service model is emerging as a powerful alternative to traditional software. Instead of being reactive, it enables founders to stay proactive  -  catching red flags before they become crises.

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Ultra Value Drop: The Founder’s Blind Spot in Fintech

Here’s the counterintuitive truth that Apriority’s rise highlights: most fintech founders build for disruption, not empowerment  -  and that’s where they lose momentum.

The most successful new wave of fintech startups isn’t trying to “replace” professionals like accountants or CFOs. They’re giving them superpowers. They’re designing tools that turn human expertise into a multiplier, not a bottleneck.

The insight founders should take here is this  -  the next decade of fintech belongs to augmentation, not automation. When you empower users to make faster, smarter decisions rather than just outsourcing the work, you create systems that scale with human intelligence, not in place of it.

In practice, that means designing platforms that feel less like software and more like partnerships  -  adaptive, conversational, and insight-driven. It’s the difference between a tool that reports numbers and a system that teaches users how to think financially.

Apriority isn’t just solving for efficiency; it’s solving for financial literacy at scale. And in an era where financial data is abundant but interpretation is scarce, that’s where the deepest moat lies.

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Strategic Investment with Long-Term Vision

Apriority’s $2.3 million raise will fuel product development, AI enhancement, and expansion into strategic partnerships with startup accelerators and financial institutions. Backing from Techstars - one of the world’s most influential startup accelerators - positions Apriority for rapid growth and global exposure.

Meanwhile, investors like Valhalla, Bridge, CAN, and Illini Angels bring extensive experience in scaling SaaS and fintech ventures, while Keiretsu Forum adds a network of high-value industry mentors and potential clients. Together, they provide Apriority with both the capital and the ecosystem to expand strategically across North America.

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The Bigger Fintech Outlook

Industry forecasts show massive momentum in this direction. The global financial automation market is projected to reach $300 billion by 2032, driven by the convergence of AI, analytics, and cloud-native software. Within that, SMB-focused platforms are expected to outpace enterprise tools by nearly 20% CAGR, according to McKinsey.

Moreover, PwC projects that AI could deliver $1 trillion in cost efficiencies across finance and operations worldwide by 2035, largely by improving decision-making quality  -  the very focus Apriority is betting on.

The company’s timing couldn’t be better: as businesses move toward leaner, remote-first operations, the demand for digital financial infrastructure that’s accurate, collaborative, and predictive has never been higher.

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A Smarter Financial Future for Founders

With its $2.3 million Seed round secured, Apriority Financial is set to scale its team, deepen its AI capabilities, and integrate with key financial ecosystems used by SMBs and startup founders. Its north star remains clear  -  empowering small businesses to think, plan, and operate with enterprise-grade financial precision.

In an economy where speed and clarity define survival, Apriority isn’t just offering a financial tool. It’s offering financial confidence  -  the kind that lets founders focus on growth, not guesswork.

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