Mona, an AI platform for small business capital access and financial coaching, announced an oversubscribed $3.5 million funding round.
Mona’s recent $3.5 million round was led by Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners (the venture firm associated with Sheryl Sandberg and Tom Bernthal). Participants include Alumni Ventures, Wisdom Ventures, and angel investors such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, among others. Mona is also backed by the Mastercard Strive USA Innovation Fund. The capital is intended to expand the AI platform’s capabilities in helping U.S. small businesses navigate capital sources and receive ongoing financial coaching.
What is Mona?
Mona is an AI driven platform that consolidates a fragmented landscape of lenders, government programs, grants, and other capital options. Entrepreneurs complete a common application; the system then surfaces relevant opportunities, streamlines applications, and delivers tailored guidance. It combines AI matching and application support with human coaching for continuous assistance as businesses grow and new opportunities or questions arise. The platform learns from user data over time.
Core offerings include customized Funding Reports drawn from hundreds of grants, loans, and government programs; application preparation support; and the Mona Growth Assistant subscription service, which provides monthly expert drafted grant applications plus coaching in strategy, marketing, product, and related areas. Loan navigation support is available at no cost. The service is open to U.S. based businesses and nonprofits at various stages.
Company-reported metrics highlight a 100% success rate in identifying eligible funding, average opportunities exceeding $500k, and roughly 40% revenue growth after capital is secured. Early traction exists in Chicago, Detroit, Jacksonville, New York City, and San Francisco. The company states it has already supported thousands of small businesses and helped secure millions in affordable capital.
Who are Mona’s leaders?
Mona was founded by Andrew Leon Hanna (co-founder and CEO) and Anny Dow (co-founder), who met at Stanford. Their families’ experiences as immigrant small business owners shaped the mission.
Hanna is an entrepreneur, lawyer, author (25 Million Sparks: The Untold Story of Refugee Entrepreneurs, a Financial Times Best Book of the Year), adjunct professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, former McKinsey consultant, White House and DOJ alum, and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree. He previously co-founded related efforts focused on immigrant, refugee, and underrepresented entrepreneurs (including DreamxAmerica) and has partnered with organizations such as Kiva to facilitate zero interest loans. Dow is a product leader with prior roles at Headspace (coaching product), Microsoft (inclusive AI), and Gusto (small business benefits); she holds an MBA from Stanford GSB and a BS in Cognitive Science from Yale.
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The funding arrives amid recognition including placement on Fast Company’s 2026 World Changing Ideas List, selection as a 2026 Mastercard Strive USA Innovation Fund winner, winner status in the 2026 MIT Fintech Challenge, and finalist recognition in the Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge. Partnerships include Mastercard Strive USA (to expand coaching via community organizations), Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses workshops, Kiva (for zero interest lending), and local entities in cities such as Chicago, Detroit, and Jacksonville.
The platform addresses a well documented gap: small businesses (especially those under $1M revenue, which form the majority of U.S. firms) lack the dedicated finance teams of larger companies and face opaque, time intensive processes for grants, loans, and public programs. Mona positions AI + human coaching as a scalable solution to improve capital access, cash flow stability, and growth support, with particular emphasis on underrepresented and underbanked founders.
Lead investor Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners focuses on AI native platforms across fintech and related sectors. Participation by Eric Schmidt, Alumni Ventures, Wisdom Ventures, and Mastercard’s inclusive growth initiative signals strong alignment around AI applied to financial inclusion and small business infrastructure. The oversubscribed nature of the round and high profile backers indicate investor confidence in the hybrid AI human model and the large addressable market of U.S. small businesses seeking more efficient capital navigation and advisory support.
The $3.5M raise provides Mona with resources to scale its AI platform and coaching reach nationally, building on existing traction, recognition, and partnerships that target a persistent structural challenge in small business finance.
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