The spreadsheet era of financial compliance may finally be ending—at least if Vilnius-based Copla has anything to say about it.
The Lithuanian startup announced Thursday it secured €6 million in Series A funding, a fresh injection of capital that arrives just as European financial institutions grapple with sweeping new regulatory requirements. Iron Wolf Capital led the round, joined by Operator Stack and a roster of returning backers including Specialist VC, SuperHero Capital, FIRSTPICK, NGL Ventures, and Loggerhead Partners.
For Copla's founders, the timing feels almost scripted. Europe's Digital Operational Resilience Act—universally known by its acronym DORA—took effect on January 17, 2025, mandating that financial firms fundamentally rethink how they manage technology risk and vet their vendors. It's the kind of regulatory inflection point that can make or break young companies operating at the intersection of compliance and automation.
"Everyone was preparing in theory," says a source close to the financing, speaking on background. "Now they're scrambling in practice."
Copla's pitch is straightforward: its platform replaces what CEO Aurimas Bakas has termed "Excel chaos" with continuous monitoring, automated workflows, and AI-driven evidence gathering. The software translates DORA, the Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2), and other frameworks into actionable tasks, deployed through a Slack and Teams-based assistant that nudges employees directly when compliance checks are due.
From Banking Alumni to Compliance Builders
Bakas co-founded Copla in 2023 alongside Andrius Minkevičius, now CTO, and Nojus Bendoraitis, who serves as Chief Legal Officer. The trio aren't newcomers to European fintech: Bakas and Minkevičius previously built Paysolut, a core banking platform acquired by German payments giant SumUp in 2021. That exit gave them both credibility and capital, though perhaps more importantly, it gave them firsthand exposure to the compliance treadmill that regulated companies endure.
The company initially launched under the name CyberUpgrade before rebranding in late 2024—a sign, insiders suggest, of sharpening focus as the regulatory calendar tightened. Copla raised €650,000 in pre-seed funding in February 2024, then closed a €2.5 million seed round last November led by SuperHero Capital. Notable angels joined that round, including Sergei Anikin, the former Pipedrive CEO whose backing carries weight in Baltic tech circles.
Now, the startup claims more than 100 regulated customers across Europe and has crossed seven-figure annual recurring revenue. Early adopters include FMpay, Whatagraph, Robinhood Europe, and Fjord Bank. On G2, Copla holds a 4.9 out of 5 rating from north of 80 reviews—a metric that matters in an enterprise software category where trust is currency.
Mapping Compliance Across a Fractured Landscape
One challenge Copla confronts is the sheer sprawl of compliance frameworks. Financial firms rarely deal with just one standard. They're navigating ISO 27001, GDPR, PCI DSS, SOC 2, and now preparing for the EU AI Act—each with distinct requirements, overlapping obligations, and different audit cycles.
Copla's approach involves mapping these frameworks onto a unified platform that maintains real-time registers and automates vendor risk assessments. The system doesn't eliminate compliance work entirely, but it shifts much of the burden from manual documentation to automated verification. When an auditor asks for evidence, the platform has already collected it.
The company says the Series A funding will accelerate product development and international expansion beyond the EU. One initiative getting particular attention is "Copla Bridge," a new layer designed for holding companies and service providers managing compliance across subsidiaries or client portfolios. It's the kind of feature that could open doors to private equity firms, consultancies, and multi-entity financial groups—verticals where compliance oversight cascades down organizational charts.
At FinovateEurope 2025, Copla listed nine full-time employees. The company declined to specify current headcount in its Series A announcement but emphasized aggressive hiring plans.
Following the American Playbook—Sort Of
Copla operates in a market that's heating up fast. Technavio projects the global governance, risk, and compliance platform market will expand by $37.6 billion between 2024 and 2028. Mordor Intelligence goes further, forecasting the segment will reach $92.7 billion by 2031.
In the United States, compliance automation darlings Vanta and Drata have reached valuations of $4.15 billion and $2 billion, respectively. But Copla isn't simply copying that playbook. American platforms largely center on SOC 2 and ISO certifications—frameworks that matter in the U.S. market. Copla's focus is different: it's betting that Europe's specific regulatory architecture—DORA, NIS2, the evolving AI Act—demands localized tooling that understands regional nuance.
"There's a real question whether U.S. platforms can retrofit themselves for European regs or whether this becomes a wedge for local players," says one venture investor tracking the space, who requested anonymity to speak candidly. "Copla is testing that hypothesis."
Iron Wolf Capital, the Baltic deep tech and AI-focused fund leading the round, appears to be making a similar bet. The firm announced its Fund II in 2025, having raised more than €30 million toward a €100 million target. Its mandate sits squarely at the intersection of regulatory technology and AI automation—a convergence that's drawing increased capital as compliance deadlines loom.
The question now is whether Copla can scale its platform fast enough to capture the wave of demand before larger enterprise software incumbents—or well-funded American competitors—decide the European compliance market is worth fighting for. The regulatory tailwinds are undeniable. Whether they're sustainable enough to build a breakout company remains the bet Iron Wolf Capital and its co-investors are making.
