Rhiannon FraterMachines are evolving, shifting from tools humans use to help them get work done to tools that actually do the work themselves. AI-driven tools aren’t just assisting humans — they act on their behalf. They can write code, fill out forms, and communicate with humans, making life simpler and more efficient.
But now they also have the power to earn money on your behalf. That’s the transformative shift accomplished by PAP!, a Y Combinator-backed startup founded by Lebanese entrepreneurs Kamal Nahas and Anthony Rassi.
The idea is simple yet effective. What many people don’t realize is that they’re sitting on a gold mine buried in their email inboxes — money they’re already entitled to but don’t have time to claim. Think price adjustments when an item goes on sale after you buy it, flight delays that qualify for compensation, or refunds you’re eligible for but never knew existed.
Normally, claiming this money means hours of searching, form-filling, and arguing with customer support, so most people don’t even try. But PAP!’s AI agents do it all for you. They scan your inbox for receipts, identify what you’re owed, and then take action: emailing support teams, submitting forms, and following up until the money lands in your account.
Kamal and Anthony’s proprietary AI agents are live today and hustling on behalf of tens of thousands of users, already putting hundreds of thousands of dollars back in the pockets of American consumers. To accomplish their mission, the duo has recently raised over $2.6 million at a $20M post-money valuation from investors, including YC, General Catalyst, NFX, Goodwater Capital, and the founder of Truebill.
Meet Kamal Nahas and Anthony Rassi — The Brains Behind PAP!
Image credit: Kamal Nahas and Anthony Rassi
Kamal Nahas and Anthony Rassi have been building solutions together since high school. At just 15, they devised an algorithmic crowdsourcing delivery system to overcome Amazon’s inability to ship packages to the country due to customs regulations. Leveraging a network of travelers that frequently flew between Paris and Beirut, the duo created a platform that allowed consumers to place orders that would be routed to Paris and then delivered to Lebanon. Their venture quickly took off among high schoolers, going viral and generating five figures of revenue.
It was their first taste of building something real, sparking a hunger and a shared ambition to create at a much larger scale. To chase that ambition, they moved to the U.S. for college, where Kamal studied electrical engineering and computer science at UC Berkeley, and Anthony pursued computer engineering and computer science at USC. There, they did everything from teaching machine learning classes to consulting for multi-billion dollar startups to working at companies like Apple and Addepar.
As large language models became increasingly popular, Anthony and Kamal were quick to identify their use in accomplishing real-world tasks, such as navigating sites, clicking buttons, and filling out forms. By early 2024, they developed one of the first AI-powered generalized web agents that could reliably mimic how humans interact with the internet — a technology, the founders realized, that could also be trained to mimic how humans make money on it.
To figure out where to start, Anthony and Kamal looked back at all the ways they had made money in the past — from their high school delivery network to consulting to side hustles in college. But ultimately, it was Anthony’s time at Aïshti, Lebanon’s largest fashion retailer, that stood out and shaped what PAP! would become.
The Hidden Economy of Everyday Refunds
While working at Aïshti, Anthony noticed a recurring pattern in e-commerce: prices for the same product changed frequently, even within days. A pair of shoes might sell for $100 one week and drop to $70 the next.
But what was surprising was that many retailers had policies that allowed consumers to benefit from these price drops. Through price adjustment or price match rules, shoppers could get money back if the price of an item dropped after they bought it — or if a cheaper price was found elsewhere. But most people never benefited from these policies, either because they didn’t know these rules existed or because the process of claiming refunds was too tedious to follow through.
Kamal and Anthony realized that other industries had similar policies: rules that entitle people to money, but only if they take the time to go and claim it. Airlines offer compensation for delayed flights. Hotels often let you rebook at a lower price if the rate drops. Class action settlements pay out money to eligible consumers.
In the end, American consumers are missing out on billions of dollars each year simply because they aren’t claiming the money they’re entitled to. So Kamal and Anthony built AI agents to do it for them, automating the entire process — from spotting opportunities to filing claims to getting money back — without any input from the user.
Winning Attention and Securing a $20M Valuation
In a sea of generic AI prototypes, Kamal and Anthony were building something different — agents that didn’t just talk but acted, getting things done and making people money.
In 2024, the company earned a spot in Y Combinator’s ultra-competitive summer cohort. With an acceptance rate below 1.5% and backing industry leaders like Airbnb, Dropbox, and Stripe, YC’s backing signaled PAP! as a significantly promising startup and gave the team access to mentorship from world-class operators like Garry Tan.
At the end of the cohort, Kamal and Anthony raised their seed round to pursue their broader mission: building a global network of AI digital workers. This round was backed by renowned investors, including General Catalyst (which manages over $30B in assets), NFX (early backers of DoorDash and Lyft), Goodwater Capital (the largest consumer VC fund), and the founder of Truebill (acquired by RocketMoney) — bringing the company’s valuation to $20 million.
What’s Next: The Infrastructure of Action
Kamal and Anthony began with money-generating agents that scan inboxes, detect refund opportunities, and file claims automatically. But they won’t stop here.
After proving that AI can earn money, they’re giving their agents a second job: completing shopping transactions on demand. Soon, you’ll be able to say, “Buy me a dress for my family trip,” and PAP!’s agentic commerce infrastructure will handle the rest — finding the best prices, navigating checkouts, and placing orders across any retailer. It’s like giving your AI assistant a credit card and a mission.