At the age of 22, Australian-born Alisa Wu launched Lucent, a startup designed to address a core bottleneck in artificial intelligence: the collection of browser interaction training data that enables AI agents to “do things” online. With no employees, no product yet publicly launched, and acting entirely solo, she secured US$2 million in a pre-seed round in just 36 hours. 

How She Did It

• Wu’s thesis is razor-sharp: large language models and AI agents are starved for high-quality behavioural datasets – especially sequences where a user completes tasks (book flights, fill forms, purchase), not just consumes content.

• She announced Lucent’s funding thanks to investors including Long Journey Ventures, Horizon VC and Weekend Fund – all backing the round before she had a product live. 

• She credits generative AI tools – notably ChatGPT – as her “CTO”, driving rapid prototyping, go-to-market narrative creation and data-strategy grounding. 

Why This Matters for Xyra Group

• Signal of investor appetite for solo founders: In the AI era, speed, thesis clarity and data-led execution can outweigh team size. The old playbook (“founding team of two or more”) is being challenged.

• Training-data infrastructure is now a strategic frontier: As Xyra focuses on e-commerce, SaaS and AI-enabled brands, owning the behavioural layer (how users engage, transact, complete tasks) becomes a potential acquisition differentiator.

• Rapid capital cycles matter: A 36-hour raise signals that execution velocity and narrative impact count. In our M&A pipeline, we should prioritise targets that can articulate a clear data-asset or infrastructure-angle, not just top-line growth.

• Solo founder leverage + asset consolidation = opportunity: Brands or platforms built from lean solo teams but with structurally defensible assets (e.g., behavioural datasets, agent-ready UX, cross-shoppered data) may represent sub-$50 m entries with high growth upside.

About Xyra Group

Xyra Group is a London-based investment consortium focused on acquiring, scaling, and integrating e-commerce, SaaS, and technology businesses worldwide. Backed by a board with over $30 billion in transactional experience, Xyra Group is redefining the future of digital commerce through strategic acquisitions, AI-driven optimization, and long-term value creation. If you wish to sell your business kindly reach out by clicking the “Contact Us” button.