Lua, a startup building software that enables companies to deploy and manage artificial intelligence agents alongside humans, has raised US$5.8 million in seed funding as it expands a platform that is already seeing early adoption in Kenya and other emerging African markets.
- •The funding will support expansion of its platform across multiple regions, with continued emphasis on emerging markets such as Kenya, alongside expansion in the United States, Europe and Asia.
- •At its core, Lua is building a platform that allows businesses to create AI agents that function like digital employees who handle tasks such as customer onboarding, loan processing, insurance workflows, and client qualification; while working alongside human teams inside existing business systems.
- •The round was led by Norrsken22, with participation from Flourish Ventures, 20VC, P1 Ventures, Enza Capital, Phosphor Capital, and Y Combinator, alongside several other technology investors and operators.
“Most businesses are either blocked by technical complexity or locked into rigid tools that don't reflect how their teams actually work. Most agent platforms compound this with black box tooling and per-outcome pricing: the more your agents succeed, the more you pay, with no pathway to improving your agent economics. Lua is built on the opposite principle: teams own their agents, own their outcomes, and build compounding efficiency over time,” said Lua CEO Lorcan O'Cathain.
Founded in 2024 by Lorcan O’Cathain and Stefan Kruger, Lua draws on its founders’ experience scaling fintech operations in East Africa. That background has influenced the company’s approach to building software that can operate across varied infrastructure environments and business conditions.
Investors backing the company see growing demand for systems that can coordinate hybrid workforces of humans and AI agents, particularly as enterprises move beyond experimental use of generative AI toward operational deployment.
“The founders fundamentally understand how agent and human workforces need to collaborate to get work done. Additionally, they are a global company that has deployed in Africa, Asia, the U.S. and Europe with deep experience, a volume of data, and a pricing intuition that's difficult to replicate,” said Lexi Novitske, General Partner at Norrsken22.
Local businesses are using Lua’s system to deploy AI agents that handle customer interactions on channels such as WhatsApp and websites. Applications include pre-qualifying clients, processing loan applications, managing insurance claims and automating onboarding processes. The use cases reflect a broader push among firms in the region to reduce manual workflows and improve response times in customer-facing operations.
Since launching its agent development platform in late 2025, the company has reported rapid growth in usage, with strong increases in both revenue and the number of AI agents being created on the system. Internal data shows that Lua has grown revenue close to 30% week-on-week.
