Sterling raises NZ$3.8m for finance automation, no sales hires disclosed
Auckland startup Sterling closed an oversubscribed seed round of NZ$3.8 million (A$3.15m) led by Blackbird, with backing from Trade Me, Pushpay, Xero and Vend alumni including Rowan Simpson and Eliot Crowther.
Founded last year by Nik Wakelin (ex-Deliveroo, MinuteDock) and Ludwig Wendzich (ex-Vend, Apple), Sterling automates finance workflows: invoice processing, bank reconciliation, month-end close. The pitch is "autopilot not copilot," meaning it runs tasks when you are offline, not just while you watch.
Early customers include Manukora, Storypark and Echelon. The company is pre-scale with no disclosed revenue or headcount. No CEO, CRO or VP Sales named beyond the two technical founders.
What this means for sales professionals
Sterling sits in the finance ops automation category alongside London's Round and other startups targeting CFO teams with workflow AI. If the category scales, expect demand for enterprise AEs who can sell into finance buyers, not just IT.
The funding announcement says the capital will fund "hiring and a push toward larger enterprise customers in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States," but specifics are missing. No role count, no comp details, no timeline.
Worth noting: this is a technical founding team with strong product credibility but no visible sales leadership yet. If you are an enterprise AE or sales leader eyeing finance automation, Sterling is early but funded. The question is whether they build or hire for go-to-market.
The broader ANZ context
Finance automation is heating up globally, with multiple 2024 funding rounds targeting AI tools for finance teams. Sterling's NZ base and Blackbird backing put it in the Trans-Tasman growth pipeline, but the lack of disclosed sales infrastructure means it is still in build mode.
For sales professionals watching the space: finance AI is a category to track, but most funded startups have not yet scaled their sales orgs. When they do, expect demand for AEs who understand CFO buying cycles and can navigate finance ops workflows.