In an era where front-end financial interfaces have reached near-frictionless perfection, the archaic “plumbing” of banking remains one of the industry’s most significant bottlenecks. Addressing this systemic inefficiency, Porters has announced the successful closure of a €2.7 million pre-seed funding round.
The investment was led by the premier venture firm Earlybird, with participation from Seedcamp and a sophisticated assembly of fintech founders. The round’s roster reads as a Who’s Who of European financial innovation, featuring Martin Kassing of Upvest, Alexandre Prot of Qonto, and Lukas Zörner of Penta. They are joined by Adrien Treccani of Metaco, Casper Wahler of Hedosophia, and Jonathan Brander, an industry veteran with deep ties to Upvest, FNZ, and Schroders.
Strategic Leadership: Defining the AI-Native Era
The capital injection follows the strategic formalization of the Porters leadership team, headed by Konstantin Kotulla, Christopher Barth, and Dr. Michael John. This triumvirate of expertise aims to bridge the gap between legacy banking resilience and modern AI capabilities.
Porters is developing an AI-native service layer specifically engineered for high-stakes, regulated workflows. Unlike general automation tools, the platform is designed to handle the nuanced complexities of account seizure and insolvency management—sectors where error margins are nonexistent and regulatory scrutiny is constant. By deploying AI to manage these time-sensitive operations, Porters enables financial institutions to scale their throughput without the linear cost of expanding headcount.
A Vision for Scalable Resilience
Commenting on the milestone, Konstantin Kotulla, Co-founder of Porters, noted that while the industry has long championed “digitalization,” the reality on the ground often tells a different story:
“Many banking operations remain largely manual despite long-running digitalisation efforts. We’re solving this by building an AI-native service that doesn’t just automate tasks, but truly allows scaling without adding headcount. All while maintaining the resilience and compliance that financial institutions require. This funding accelerates our mission to redefine financial service operations for the AI era.”
The newly secured funds will be channeled into rapid product development and the expansion of the platform’s scope, eventually encompassing a broader suite of back-office services for both incumbent banks and burgeoning fintechs.
Editor’s View
The significance of Porters’ pre-seed round lies not merely in the capital raised, but in the caliber of its backers. When the founders of Qonto and Upvest—entities that have spent the last decade perfecting the “middle-ware” and user-experience of finance—put their weight behind a back-office solution, the market should take notice. This leadership appointment of Konstantin Kotulla, Christopher Barth, and Dr. Michael John signals a pivot from the “growth at all costs” mentality toward a more sustainable “efficiency through intelligence” model. By targeting the unglamorous but essential processes of insolvency and account management, Porters is positioning itself as the indispensable substrate of the next generation of banking.
From a strategic standpoint, Porters is addressing the “Last Mile” problem of digital banking. While opening an account now takes minutes, the administrative resolution of that same account—should it face legal complications—can still take weeks of manual labor. This friction represents a massive, hidden cost of capital for modern institutions. By automating these “regulated exceptions,” Porters is effectively building a productivity-enhancing moat for its clients. As European financial regulations become increasingly complex, the demand for a specialized, compliant AI layer will only intensify, making Porters a high-growth prospect in an otherwise crowded fintech landscape.
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