Barcelona-based Murphy has raised $15 million in a funding round led by Northzone to scale its artificial intelligence-based debt collection platform. Other participants in the funding included ElevenLabs, Lakestar, and Seedcamp.
Why it matters: Murphy is one of the latest startups leveraging autonomous AI agents to modernize the $300+ billion global debt collection industry, which CEO Borja Sole calls “slow, fragmented, and highly analogue.” The company replaces traditional call centers with multilingual, omnichannel AI agents capable of recovering more debt at a lower cost all while staying compliant.
Driving the news:
- Murphy emerged from stealth with a fully autonomous platform that already manages hundreds of millions in debt for major clients, including telcos, banks, utility providers, and DCAs.
- The platform uses OpenAI’s technology to power human-like voice agents that communicate with consumers via SMS, email, WhatsApp, phone, and certified letters — in over 30 languages.
- The AI agents can negotiate payment plans, offer discounts, escalate to legal when needed, and maintain guardrails for respectful communication with vulnerable consumers.
Between the lines: Murphy’s pricing is based on successful debt recovery, aligning its incentives with those of its clients. The company claims its AI agents outperform traditional methods in both recovery rates and operational efficiency.
What they’re saying: “We’re building AI-native infrastructure that replaces traditional call centers with a scalable, multilingual solution,” said Borja Sole, CEO. “It helps companies recover more, faster, and more cost-efficiently, while staying compliant and treating debtors with respect.”
“Nobody wants to be dealing with collecting money and having to push people that cannot pay,” Sole added.
The big picture: So far in 2025, AI agent startups have raised $2.2 billion signaling growing investor confidence in AI’s ability to automate high-friction, human-heavy tasks — especially in regulated industries. According to IBISWorld, over 114,000 people work in debt collection across Europe — jobs Murphy says can be made obsolete through more humane and scalable automation.
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