“Can a controversy-born AI assistant pivot fast enough to become the default real-time intelligence layer for enterprise sales calls and meetings?”
Founded in April 2025 by Columbia University students suspended for building an AI interview-cheating tool, Cluely launched with a deliberately provocative 'cheat on everything' marketing campaign. After raising $20M+ from top VCs including a16z, the company pivoted to reframe itself as a legitimate real-time AI meeting and sales call assistant, with enterprises adopting the product in a conventional B2B SaaS model. The embedded finance stack is purely operational — Stripe for billing, Brex for corporate banking and spend management — with no embedded finance products offered to end customers.
Cluely processes payments through Stripe.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 3 layers in Cluely's stack: Payments / PSP (Stripe); Spend / AP (Brex); Treasury (Brex Treasury).
Cluely was founded by Roy Lee, Neel Shanmugam and Alex Chen and is founded in 2025, headquartered in New York, New York.
Cluely has raised $20.2M in total (latest round: Series A, June 2025; valuation: ~$120M post-money (2025)).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Cluely and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.