Entrepreneurs Dillon Erb and Daniel Kobran, both Y Combinator alumni, have secured $15 million to launch a new AI-powered financial advisory platform. Their venture, Autonomous Technologies Group (ATG), follows the $111 million acquisition of their previous startup, Paperspace, by DigitalOcean in 2023. The new company aims to make sophisticated financial strategies more accessible through applied artificial intelligence.
From Concept to Launch
The idea for the new financial app, Autonomous, emerged as Erb and Kobran looked for better ways to manage their own finances after the sale of Paperspace. ATG positions itself as a finance-focused AI research lab, targeting inefficiencies in both traditional wealth management firms and existing robo-advisors. The founders argue that many current solutions either deliver overly generic recommendations or charge high fees without providing commensurate value.
How Autonomous Stands Out
Erb has emphasized that the platform is not designed to select individual “winning stocks” for users. Instead, Autonomous focuses on financial strategies commonly used by wealthy families, including tax efficiency optimization and dynamic portfolio adjustments to manage risk. By moving beyond standard index-based approaches, the platform aims to provide more proactive, personalized financial guidance.
Funding and Team Expansion
The $15 million pre-seed round was led by Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, who has worked with the founders since their initial YC experience in 2015. Additional investors include BoxGroup and Collaborative Fund. ATG currently employs around 15 people across New York and San Francisco, and plans to use the capital to expand its engineering and AI research teams.
Industry Context and Timing
Tan has noted that financial advisory services remain one of the few major sectors where human intermediaries continue to extract outsized value. According to him, advances in AI make this an opportune moment to rethink how financial advice is delivered. As banks and startups such as Stash, Vise, and Range increasingly integrate AI into wealth management, competition in the space is intensifying.
Features and Market Entry
Autonomous is expected to launch later this year, subject to regulatory approval, with the app initially offered free to early users. The platform combines market data with user-specific information to provide financial guidance across areas such as investments, major financial decisions, and personal financial planning. While advisory features for linked accounts are free, the company plans to monetize through its Autonomous Index, a trading tool that requires users to manually approve transactions.
Future Vision
Beyond its initial product, ATG aims to build toward a more automated financial services platform over time. Kobran has outlined a long-term vision that could eventually encompass retirement planning, digital assets, private equity exposure, and estate planning. The broader goal is to reduce reliance on traditional advisors and make advanced financial tools accessible to a wider audience.
With its AI-driven approach, Autonomous Technologies Group is positioning itself to challenge established norms in wealth management. By combining personalized advisory capabilities with automation, the startup seeks to lower barriers to sophisticated financial planning. As the platform rolls out, it could signal a shift in how individuals approach managing and optimizing their financial lives.