The Journey of Pryce Yebesi: From Utopia Labs to Open Ledger
At just 24, Pryce Yebesi is already making waves in the tech industry. Having successfully exited his crypto invoicing startup, Utopia Labs, by selling it to Coinbase for an undisclosed amount, Yebesi is not resting on his laurels. Instead, he has embarked on a new venture: Open Ledger. This innovative company aims to revolutionize the accounting software landscape by embedding automated accounting tools directly into products that enterprises and small businesses already use.
Launching Open Ledger
On Monday, Yebesi unveiled Open Ledger, a company conceived during his tenure as the Chief Product Officer at Utopia Labs. His experience there highlighted the persistent reliance of businesses on outdated accounting systems. “When we built invoicing products at Utopia, we saved our customers 70-80% of the time they spent on accounting tasks,” Yebesi explained to TechCrunch. “Open Ledger is our answer to that challenge. An AI-driven, modular accounting tool that lives where our customers already work.”
The Vision Behind Open Ledger
After exiting Utopia Labs, Yebesi served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Washington University in St. Louis. There, he worked closely with small businesses and identified a widespread need for improved accounting solutions. He partnered with Ashtyn Bell, an AI researcher from a venture capital firm who previously led product development at Candy Digital, to bring Open Ledger to life.
Innovative Accounting Solutions
Open Ledger stands out by offering accounting features through embeddable components, APIs, and a ledger database that enables AI-driven categorization, reconciliation, and financial reporting. “Open Ledger aggregates and orchestrates every data source for companies, then allows AI to execute accounting functions with full financial context,” Yebesi shared.
“What is special about our approach is that we reimagined the data layer of financial transactions,” Yebesi said. He emphasized their seven-month journey developing AI workflows designed to allow data transaction databases to engage with Large Language Models (LLMs) without compromising consumer data.
{Pryce Yebesi}
Smooth Sailing in Fundraising
Open Ledger’s launch was well-supported financially, raising $3 million in a funding round led by Kindred Ventures and Blank Ventures. Additional investors include Adventure Fund and notable individuals such as Jonathan Chang from Brex and Guy Friedman, CEO of SteadyMD. Yebesi attributes part of their fundraising success to prior relationships established during his time at Utopia Labs.
Looking Ahead
Although still in beta, Open Ledger has already secured several contracts and plans a full release by month’s end. The fresh capital will be used primarily for hiring talent in product development, engineering, and business operations.
“We’re putting a lot towards hiring great talent, training great models for financial work internally, and investing a lot in compliance early,” said Yebesi. Their ambition is clear: supporting at least a million end users by year-end while maintaining a lean team structure.
Conclusion
Pryce Yebesi’s journey from Utopia Labs to Open Ledger underscores his commitment to innovation in the fintech sector. By addressing long-standing inefficiencies in accounting software through AI-driven solutions, Open Ledger is poised to make significant strides in helping businesses focus more on customer engagement than bookkeeping.
