Day: August 20, 2025

• Leaping AI said it raised $4.7 million in seed funding after participating in Y Combinator.
• The startup struggled to raise funds in Germany but succeeded quickly in Silicon Valley.
• Cofounder Kevin Wu said Y Combinator provided an instant network.

Raising money in Germany for his AI startup? Nearly impossible. Raising several million in a week in Silicon Valley? Easy.

That’s according to Kevin Wu, cofounder and CEO of Leaping AI, which builds voice AI agents for call centers, customer service, and other use cases. He founded the company in Germany in 2023 with Arkadiy Telegin, cofounder and CTO of Leaping AI. The company completed a round of funding earlier this year after participating in Y Combinator.

Leaping AI raised $4.7 million in seed funding led by Nexus Venture Partners. Other investors included Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham and Shopify COO Kaz Nejatian, as well as Ritual Capital, Pioneer Fund, Orange Collective, and the founders of the voice AI platform Cartesia.

Wu, who is currently based in San Francisco, left his job as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group in Berlin to found the company. He said he was partly inspired by an experience he had years earlier as an intern at Amazon, when he was required to spend a day answering phones and talking to customers at a call center.

“It was such an unrewarding job,” he said, explaining why he thought it was ripe for disruption.

Leaping AI’s customers span industries, including travel, home services, health insurance, and real estate, and its voice agents currently handle 10,000 calls per day, the company said. For one client, a large travel company, Leaping AI said 50% of repetitive, booking-related calls can be handled without any help from a human. Their AI agents also have achieved customer satisfaction rates of over 90%, the company said.

Leaping AI plans to use the seed funding to expand its product and go-to-market teams, enhance its agent capabilities, and scale to meet demand.

Raising money in Germany vs. Silicon Valley

Initially, the Leaping AI founders tried to raise money in Germany, where Wu grew up and attended school, but struggled.

“It’s so hard to found a company in Germany because there’s no very early stage seed venture capital for technical founders with unproven businesses,” he said.

Then, at the end of 2024, Leaping AI was accepted to Y Combinator after being rejected twice and moved to San Francisco.

“Our revenue doubled within essentially the first two months of being here. So we got more revenue in two months than one year in Germany,” he said.

Leaping AI said it recently surpassed $1 million in annual recurring revenue.

When it came time to fundraise in Silicon Valley after being part of Y Combinator, Wu said he took 14 meetings a day in 30-minute blocks, back-to-back, for five days straight. By the end of the first week, he said they’d raised $4.7 million and had even more in offers. He said he canceled the second week of meetings they had planned.

“Here, pretty much everybody said ‘yes,'” Wu said.

Wu said coming out of Y Combinator and having the backing of Graham made all the difference, adding it immediately expanded their network and made the startup attractive to investors.

“Paul Graham is the Kobe Bryant of startups,” he said. “If Paul Graham invests, usually people see that as a very good sign.”

Y Combinator has been investing heavily in AI. The startup accelerator’s recent cohorts have been dominated by AI startups run by young founders. Y Combinator invests $500,000 in every company it accepts, and its alumni include Airbnb, Coinbase, and DoorDash.

Leaping AI also benefited from having already existed for a year, Wu said, adding that they had more traction than some of the other companies in their Y Combinator cohort that were run by recent college graduates.

He said that for computer science graduates in Germany like himself, making it to Silicon Valley is the dream, and he would encourage other founders to make it happen. If you can’t get into Y Combinator, he said, founders can also make their own luck.

“You could literally just fly over here for a month, get to know investors, try to get funding with the promise of you’re moving to SF. And once you have investor money, it’s a lot easier,” he said.

“I think YC is a good way to come to the US,” he said. “But it’s not the only way.”

Wu said now that Leaping AI is based in the States, it’s actually having an easier time selling its product back home in Germany.

“You’re seen as having German roots and speaking their language, but you’re a Silicon Valley company,” he said, adding, “you’re seen as setting innovation.”

Turnhout – The transport company Group De Wolf in Turnhout has declared bankruptcy, ceasing operations and impacting approximately 100 employees following failed takeover negotiations. The issues of rising fuel costs and intensified competition were cited as primary factors behind this downfall, reports 24brussels.

The bankruptcy was confirmed on Tuesday evening, August 19, 2025. Employees gathered on Wednesday, August 20, 2025, to receive updates on the closure.

“We’re closed,”

said Renaat Peters, an employee and member of the ACV union, following management’s notification.

“It is a sad story. I have been here for many years, and with my colleagues I have always worked hard. We went through tough times, but I kept hoping the company would survive. Now that hope is gone.”

What led to the Group De Wolf bankruptcy in Turnhout, affecting 100 employees?

The bankruptcy of Group De Wolf had been anticipated for some time. Employees reported that the company faced immense pressure amid challenging conditions in the transport sector. Rising fuel prices, fierce competition, and decreasing profit margins severely affected daily operations.

“The transport sector is struggling right now,”

Peters remarked.

“Some of our trucks have been standing still for days and even weeks. And a truck that is not moving does not earn money.”

Management had been in discussions with a potential buyer interested in acquiring the business. However, those negotiations collapsed when the buyer withdrew unexpectedly at the last moment.

“There was a potential buyer, but they backed out at the last minute,”

Peters confirmed.

“The management told me there will be no restart.”

This closure leaves employees without jobs, as unions begin addressing severance, unpaid wages, and other support for those affected.

The downfall of Group De Wolf aligns with a troubling trend of bankruptcies within the Belgian transport industry. Notably, Ecodis Transport in Beveren went bankrupt in 2020 due to mounting debts and dwindling demand. In 2021, Van Mieghem Logistics in Vilvoorde reduced its fleet size due to financial pressures, and the following year, Sitra Logistics in Roeselare scaled back operations amid rising costs.

Sint-Pieters-Leeuw – The Belfair care centre in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw is now under strict supervision following a June 2025 inspection that uncovered significant staff shortages, inadequate medication management, and substandard infrastructure. Joris Moonens, a spokesperson for the Department of Care, has insisted on the urgent need for improvements, reports 24brussels.

The inspection, which took place at the Godfried Van Leuvenlaan facility, revealed a series of critical deficiencies, prompting an official warning. VRT News has highlighted these major issues, indicating that the problems at Belfair are systemic rather than isolated, thereby raising questions regarding the overall quality of daily care.

Investigators noted a lack of full-time nursing staff, including the absence of essential personnel such as an end-of-life specialist. Serious concerns were also identified about medication handling and wound care, both deemed crucial for ensuring the residents’ health and safety.

What problems put Belfair care home, Sint-Pieters-Leeuw under supervision?

Inadequate facilities were also reported, including an insufficient number of wheelchair-accessible toilets for residents facing mobility challenges. The Department of Care now mandates additional inspections, with penalties or potential bans on the centre should it fail to implement necessary changes in the stipulated timeframe.

“In a residential care centre, several procedures apply regarding how medication should be handled and how people should be cared for. These procedures must ensure, for example, that people receive the correct medication and that it is stored correctly,”

Moonens stated.

The decision to intensify monitoring of the Belfair facility reflects clear concerns about the execution of daily operational procedures. Moonens noted that while no direct errors have been identified, neglecting established protocols increases risks, justifying heightened vigilance.

“We see that these procedures are not being followed sufficiently in the residential care centre. This doesn’t always mean a mistake has been made, but it does, of course, increase the risk. That’s sufficient reason for us to increase vigilance,”

He added. The Department of Care reiterated that heightened supervision is never imposed lightly and only occurs following repeated failures to address identified issues. The inspectors confirmed a consistent failure in medication management and wound care, compounded by a lack of qualified staff, revealing a deeply vulnerable situation within the facility.

“We only do this if problems have been identified repeatedly and are not being adequately addressed. Moreover, new deficiencies have surfaced since the last inspection,”

Moonens said. The Department indicated that placing a residential care centre under increased supervision is a serious measure taken only in cases where prior inadequacies remain unaddressed or where care quality dips below minimum safety standards.

In the case of Belfair, the inadequacies were deemed severe enough to warrant immediate action. Management has been directed to submit a comprehensive action plan within 15 days, outlining how they intend to resolve issues related to staffing shortages, care quality, and facility accessibility.

In recent years, other residential care centres in Flanders have faced similar scrutiny after inspections revealed alarming deficiencies. For instance, in 2022, the Hemelrijck facility in Mol was placed under heightened monitoring due to staff shortages, poor medical follow-up, and hygiene issues. Additionally, in 2023, another residential care home in Oudenaarde underwent tighter control after inspectors detected problems with wound care and medication handling. In both instances, management was required to present a detailed improvement plan promptly, with subsequent visits scheduled to ensure compliance with standards.