Roma AI, the Uruguayan-Chilean startup founded by Richard Barbera, Javier Hernández and Benjamín De Oto, closed a US$1.2 million seed round led by Invexor Venture Partners.
The company allows companies to create, operate and govern artificial intelligence agents integrated directly with their internal systems, such as calendars, payment platforms, catalogs and proprietary developments, without sensitive data leaving the client’s infrastructure.
Barbera created Roma AI in February 2025 after years leading the development of conversational assistants for large retailers such as Cencosud. It validated the prototype with companies willing to pay from the beginning, was incubated in Ingenio and added angel investor Ramón Heredia before establishing the company in Chile in May 2025. Today it processes more than 500,000 messages per month for more than 50 companies in the region.
Governance and security as a differential
Roma AI’s differential is not only in automation, but in the governance layer: traceability, business rules, auditing and continuous monitoring of each agent’s action.
“You cannot give OpenAI direct access to your systems due to regulatory issues. Our platform is integrated within the company and that sensitive data stays within,” said Richard Barbera. Companies already use the platform to process the sale of a car loan from end to end or coordinate an appointment at a dental clinic without human intervention.
A team that will go from 9 to 30 people in six months
The business model charges by volume of conversations, not by project, with plans for SMEs starting at US$99 per month for 500 conversations and corporate accounts for up to 10,000 conversations with dedicated support.
With the new resources, Roma AI will allocate 55% to hiring, with the goal of going from 9 to 30 collaborators in six months, several of them in Uruguay. 33% will go to marketing and events, and the rest to technology and infrastructure. The growth strategy combines the incorporation of new clients with the sale of more services within active accounts. “We have strong retention; so far no corporate client has canceled the service,” said Richard Barbera.
