Founded in 2021, Zerve aims to revolutionise the role of code-first data teams by offering a developer-focused platform built on its patented architecture. The company promises to enhance the scalability and resilience of AI and data workflows.

As enterprises increasingly scrutinise the efficiency of their data teams, many AI initiatives struggle to move beyond development. Those that do often face obstacles such as handovers between teams, version control challenges, and infrastructure complexities. Zerve addresses these pain points with its comprehensive platform, which streamlines the building, management, and deployment of AI workflows. By automating tasks and reducing complexities, Zerve claims it can help data teams cut cycle times by as much as 9x, maximising both efficiency and return on investment.

Key features of Zerve’s platform include automated infrastructure management, cross-language support, robust version control, and seamless deployment processes. These tools are designed to help data teams achieve more with less friction, positioning Zerve to drive the next generation of high-performing teams in the AI space.

Before this round, Zerve raised $3.8 million in pre-seed funding in October 2023, led by Elkstone. The platform was commercially launched in February 2024 and quickly gained traction, onboarding more than 4,000 users to its free product tier within three months. The company is led by three co-founders: CEO Phily Hayes, formerly of LearnUpon; CTO Jason Hilary, an AI/ML expert from Siren and Antares Vision; and CPO Greg Michaelson, previously Chief Customer Officer at DataRobot.

Zerve CEO Phily Hayes said: “The stick we measure ourselves by is how much more throughput the teams we’re working with have been able to achieve, whether that is reducing their overall cycle time for projects or increasing their speed to recommendations. The speed at which data and AI projects run can sometimes feel like death by 1,000 cuts, so on-top of our 100% guaranteed, resilience-based architecture, we have cleared the path-to-output by removing the smaller hurdles that get in the way.”

Ken Pentimonti, Managing Director, Paladin Capital Group added: “The limitations of current solutions have placed a big barrier in front of innovation at organizations seeking to realise the potential of data science and AI. Zerve’s intuitive platform can release that potential and improve the safety and reliability of the software ultimately deployed. With spend on AI at $33 billion in 2023 in Europe alone, growing 30% per year, we are hugely excited about Zerve’s prospects.”

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