Minicor, a startup that enables AI systems to use legacy desktop software like an API, has announced a US$3.8 million Seed round. The funding was led by Brad Gillespie at IA Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator and Paul Graham. The investment will support the company's efforts to bring AI into the desktop applications that still power a large share of enterprise operations.
The Legacy Software Challenge
Many enterprises continue to depend on desktop applications that were built without modern APIs, limiting their ability to integrate with AI tools. According to Minicor, 70% of Fortune 500 companies still run on such software. Existing workarounds include robotic process automation, which requires heavy engineering, and computer use agents, which are easy to set up but often slower than a person performing the same data entry.
How Minicor Operates
Minicor converts legacy desktop software into endpoints that AI systems can call just like any other API. The company's agents learn how the software works, build the automations, and keep them running over time. This approach reduces engineering overhead, provides a faster alternative to manual workflows, and avoids the slowness associated with conventional computer use agents.
Seed Funding Led by IA Ventures
The US$3.8 million Seed round was led by Brad Gillespie at IA Ventures, an early-stage firm focused on data and software companies. Y Combinator and Paul Graham also participated, reinforcing Minicor's ties to the technology startup community. The new capital will support the company as it scales its platform and addresses growing enterprise demand for automation.
Broad Investor Participation
Other investors in the round include Pioneer Fund, Robinhood Ventures, Garage Capital, Rebel Fund, Blast, SuccessVP, K5 Global, 20VC, Phosphor Capital, and Metsu Capital. Individual backers include Austen Allred, Henri Stern, Matteo Franceschetti, and Jeff Henriod. The company thanked the group for supporting its mission to modernize access to legacy software.
A Practical Alternative for Enterprises
Minicor positions itself between two established approaches to enterprise automation. Robotic process automation offers reliability but demands substantial engineering resources to build and maintain. Computer use agents are simpler to deploy but often remain too slow for production data entry tasks, while Minicor aims to combine API reliability with a lightweight setup process.
The Next Wave of AI Productivity
Minicor's mission is to help foster the next wave of AI productivity gains by unlocking data and workflows trapped in legacy desktop applications. These systems often hold critical business processes that have been difficult to automate. With API-like endpoints, enterprises can pursue efficiency improvements without replacing the software they already use.
A Growing Need for AI Integration
Enterprise interest in AI-driven automation has grown rapidly, but many legacy applications remain disconnected from modern data pipelines. Minicor's technology targets this gap directly by exposing existing software as callable endpoints. This allows organizations to layer AI onto current workflows without rip and replace projects or lengthy integration timelines, and it can shorten the time to value for AI initiatives.
Minicor's Seed round provides both capital and investor validation for a practical solution to a persistent enterprise challenge. As AI adoption accelerates, the ability to connect models to legacy desktop applications could become a meaningful driver of productivity. The company plans to use its new funding to expand the platform and help more organizations bring AI into their existing software environments.