A teenager, who became a viral star when he shared a photo of himself taking a sales call in his school toilet, has raised $1.4m.
Liam Fuller, now aged 18, is the co-founder of an AI startup called Source, which uses agentic AI to automate stock purchasing from retailers.
The Dublin-based startup has just raised $1.4m in pre-seed funding, led by Square Peg, which is one of Australia’s top VC funds.
The teenager had previously made headlines when a photo he shared on LinkedIn of himself sitting on a school toilet, laptop out, taking a work call for his Shopify app CartShare in between his maths and English class, went viral.
The young entrepreneur got suspended for the LinkedIn post and dropped out of high school completely to focus on his burgeoning business career – which is how he secured the $1.4m investment.
Writing on LinkedIn he explained: “It started back in March, as I boarded my flight to Australia, to see my grandparents for the first time in 10 years on a holiday.
“I knew I wanted to meet some founders and investors while I was in the country so I logged onto LinkedIn, and started emailing.
“Most never responded but a few did. Lots of no’s, and a few yesses later… I had an active round.
“I decided to cold email Paul Bassat, (the co-founder of venture capital firm) Square Peg for advice on the round.
Liam Fuller became a viral star when he shared a photo of himself taking a sales call on his school toilet
“A day later, I took the train three hours down from my grandparents’ house to meet Paul for 20 minutes in Sydney.
“Towards the end of our conversation I asked Paul if he’d be interested in angel investing in Source.
“He declined. Curious, I asked why? He explained to me he typically invests through the fund, but I was early so he said he’d help make some introductions to help with the round.
“And two days later, to my surprise, I was in a meeting with the entire investment team.
“It was probably the most nerve-wrecking thing I’ve ever done in my life … and I honestly, I had no clue how it went.
“And 20 minutes later… I got a call from Paul. He wanted to lead my round!
“I couldn’t be happier to have such an amazing group of investors behind me from across the globe with such a high conviction in not only the current vision for Source but for myself as a founder. It’s incredible.
“I’m extremely grateful for the people who helped me along the way, with intros and their time with zero expectations of return. This is just the start.”
Paul Bassat said: “A lot of attention about the round is (understandably) on Liam’s age. What he and Yoan are achieving at such an early stage in their career’s is remarkable. We didn’t back Liam because he was 17 but because he is an exceptional founder.
“Source is solving a critical problem for small and medium sized retailers that has enabled been by the rise of generative AI. Procurement sucks for retailers and Source makes an enormous difference to the retailer’s experience.”
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A Square Peg spokesman said: “We’re thrilled to have led Source’s $1.4 million pre-seed round. Source is an agentic AI procurement platform for retailers on a mission to address the estimated $1 trillion annual cost of out-of-stock inventory.
“Source’s engineering is led from Paris, France, by co-founder Yoan Gabison. The injection of capital will expand engineering and fund US pilots ahead of Liam’s move to Silicon Valley later this year.
“We’re not just excited by Liam and Yoan’s current vision for Source; we’re excited by their ability to navigate and adapt as the business evolves.”
Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Dublin, the startup is a Delaware C-Corp, registered under QuickFind AI, and trading under the name Source.