Courtne Marland
| Courtne Marland | |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, angel investor |
|---|---|
| Known for | Founder and CEO of Lyra |
Courtne Marland is a South African entrepreneur and angel investor. He is the founder and CEO of Lyra (formerly Lyrahq), an AI-native meeting platform for sales teams. Marland describes himself as a "designer turned founder."[1] Lyra is a Y Combinator Spring 2025 batch company based in San Francisco.[2]
Career
Marland founded Lyra, an AI-native meeting platform designed primarily for sales teams. The platform combines video conferencing, real-time AI transcription, automated CRM updates, and a shared knowledge base into a single workspace. Lyra allows users to conduct video meetings natively in the browser at 4K resolution while the AI transcribes each participant's microphone individually. The platform can automatically detect the type of call being held and generate relevant artifacts in real time, such as follow-up emails, action items, and meeting summaries. It also performs pre-meeting research on participants and integrates with scheduling tools such as Google Calendar and Cal.com.[3]
Lyra was accepted into Y Combinator's Spring 2025 batch and is categorized within the B2B, sales, customer success, telecommunications, and AI sectors. The company is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In July 2025, Lyra announced a $6 million seed funding round at a $40 million valuation, led by 468 Capital with participation from Y Combinator. The round was covered by multiple publications including Business Insider, which described the startup as enabling customers to "turn every sales call into a real-time whiteboard and keep all their conversations about a project in one place." Lyra was described as one of Y Combinator's fastest-growing startups at the time of the announcement.
Prior to founding Lyra, Marland's background was in design. According to South African media coverage, he is a young South African entrepreneur who built the platform to improve sales team efficiency. He is also a member of the Forbes Business Council.[4]
In addition to his work at Lyra, Marland is an angel investor who focuses on what he describes as "disruptive ideas, technology, and people." He maintains a podcast and YouTube channel where he discusses business topics.
References
- ↑ "Courtne Marland — Personal Website". 'Huge Magazine}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Lyra — Y Combinator". 'Lyra}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Lyra — AI-native meeting platform". 'Lyra}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Courtne Marland — Forbes Profile". 'Huge Magazine}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.