UK Startup Toyo Raises €3.6M Funding In Seed Round

The company aims to make advanced AI agent workflows accessible to non-technical founders.

The round was led by Frontline Ventures, iNovia Capital, Tiny Supercomputer, and included participation from angel investors with backgrounds at Amazon, Microsoft, and Cloudflare.

Founded in 2024 by Damien Tanner, Stuart Bowness, and Aidan Hornsby, Toyo is building an operational layer for small businesses, offering AI agents that autonomously manage day-to-day tasks. Unlike traditional AI assistants embedded in software, Toyo’s agents run continuously on secure cloud infrastructure, handling research, outreach, website updates, analytics and more.

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The founding team brings deep experience in building and exiting software ventures. CEO Damien Tanner co-founded Pusher (acquired by MessageBird) and MediaCore (acquired by Workday). Bowness co-founded MediaCore and later served as VP of Emerging Technology at Workday, scaling product organizations. Hornsby co-founded Supercast (acquired by Fox) and helped creators scale subscription businesses.

Toyo addresses a common challenge for early-stage founders: managing dozens of SaaS tools, emails, dashboards and meetings, leaving little time for strategic work. While developer-focused frameworks like OpenClaw exist, they require technical expertise and hands-on infrastructure management limiting adoption for most small businesses. Toyo targets the estimated 48 million companies with fewer than 100 employees in English-speaking markets, bridging the gap between AI potential and practical usability.

The platform runs AI agents 24/7 in sandboxed cloud computers built on Cloudflare infrastructure, with secure browser access and app integrations. Data remains isolated within each founder’s environment, reducing the risk of exposing sensitive information such as API keys, customer lists, and financial records.

Toyo’s agents scan inboxes, track competitor activity, generate daily briefings, identify prospects, and draft personalized outreach messages, all tailored to a founder’s priorities. Communications are reviewed before sending, and follow-ups are automated. Agents also audit websites, analyse SEO opportunities, and generate tailored updates for review. Tasks that traditionally took agencies weeks can now be completed in days.

Originally a voice AI product, Toyo pivoted after using AI agents internally to replace CRM, email automation, and website management. Non-technical team members rebuilt the marketing website over a weekend, and campaign launches were shortened from days to hours.

Toyo is currently refining its platform with a small group of design partners, following early interest from founders looking to replace existing software stacks with fully autonomous, agent-led workflows.

“The most powerful AI capabilities today are only accessible to technical early adopters. Toyo is closing that gap, giving every founder and operator AI agents that understand their business and work as an extension of their team, in a secure environment they can trust with real operations,” says Zoe Chambers, Partner at Frontline Ventures.ecure environment they can trust with real operations,” says Zoe Chambers, Partner at Frontline Ventures.