24-Year-Old Entrepreneur Who Sold Startup to Coinbase Secures $3M for New Venture
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Amelia Cross
- January 14, 2025
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At just 24, Pryce Yebesi has already achieved a significant milestone by selling his crypto invoicing startup, Utopia Labs, to Coinbase. Now, he’s turning his sights to a new venture, Open Ledger, which embeds AI-driven accounting software directly into tools used by enterprises and small businesses. Backed by a $3 million funding round led by Kindred Ventures and Blank Ventures, Open Ledger aims to transform financial workflows.
Yebesi conceived Open Ledger while working as Chief Product Officer at Utopia Labs, where he saw businesses struggling with outdated accounting systems. “When we built invoicing products at Utopia, we saved our customers 70-80% of their accounting time,” Yebesi told TechCrunch. “Open Ledger is our answer to that challenge—an AI-powered, modular accounting tool integrated into where customers already work.”
Co-founded with Ashtyn Bell, formerly in AI research and product leadership at Candy Digital, Open Ledger provides embeddable components, APIs, and a ledger database. These tools enable AI-driven categorization, reconciliation, and financial reporting. The platform focuses on securely integrating financial data with large language models (LLMs) while minimizing latency and protecting consumer privacy.
Open Ledger competes with legacy players like QuickBooks and startups such as Layer and Teal. However, Yebesi highlights its unique data layer approach, designed to optimize how financial transactions interact with AI systems.
The startup is already working with SaaS companies, fintech firms, and banks serving small- and medium-sized businesses. While still in beta, Open Ledger plans to fully launch by the end of the month and aims to support at least a million end users by year-end.
The funding will be used to expand the team and enhance compliance and model training. “We’re investing heavily in talent, AI models for financial work, and early compliance measures,” Yebesi said. Despite its ambitions, the company plans to stay lean, helping businesses focus on customers rather than accounting.
