Jentic founding team includes veterans behind Demonware, PageFair, Rent the Runway, and Mindconnex.
A new Irish start-up headed by the entrepreneurs who created some of Ireland’s best-known and most successful start-ups are masterminding a new AI start-up.
That start-up – Jentic – is focused on creating the integration layer for AI and has raised €4m in seed funding in a round led by Elkstone with participation from Sure Valley Ventures.
“We’re building critical infrastructure to enable developers to easily and securely hook their AI systems up to the world’s APIs”
It is understood that many notable technology founders and leaders also joined the round as angel investors.
Proven tech veterans join the dots on AI
The start-up team includes CEO Sean Blanchfield, former co-founder of PageFair (acquired by Blockthrough) and DemonWare (acquired by Activision Blizzard), COO Dorothy Creaven, former Managing Director at Rent The Runway and co-founder of Element Wave, Michael Cordner, co-founder of Mindconnex, and Dr Tilman Schaefer, a founding team member at DemonWare.
The funding will be used to expand the team, accelerate product development, and bring an integration layer for AI to market.
“We’re building critical infrastructure to enable developers to easily and securely hook their AI systems up to the world’s APIs,” said Sean Blanchfield, co-founder and CEO of Jentic.
“This is the future of automation, and it needs a new kind of integration layer to manage the unique complexity, reliability and security issues that arise when AI becomes highly connected. We have a strong history of building category-leading middleware, and this funding will allow us to quickly expand our world-class team, match the tremendous pace of AI development, and deliver a platform that empowers developers and organisations to deploy sophisticated AI with confidence.”
For developers, Jentic streamlines API integration for AI agents, automatically matching them with optimal tools as they execute tasks. For executives, it provides centralised oversight of agent operations across the organisation, enabling monitoring, security management, and access control.
“At Elkstone, we are committed to backing ground-breaking startups capable of transforming industries,” said Niall McEvoy, head of Venture at Elkstone. “Jentic’s clear vision to establish a universal AI integration layer aligns perfectly with our mission to drive technological innovation. Backing experienced serial founders with a clear global market opportunity underpins why Elkstone is leading this funding round, and we are enthusiastic to support Jentic’s growth.”
Several experienced tech leaders sit on Jentic’s board of advisors including Steven Collins (CTO of Unity, former CTO of King, co-founder of Havok and Swrve), Patricia Scanlon (Ireland’s AI Ambassador and founder/former CEO of Soapbox Labs, acquired in 2023 by Curriculum Associates), Colm Long (former VP of Global Operations at Facebook and Director of Operations at Google, previously COO at Tines), Fergal Reid (VP of AI at Intercom) and Mark Cummins (former founder/CEO of Pointy and Plink, which were respectively acquired in 2010 and 2020 by Google).
Main image at top: The start-up team includes: CEO Sean Blanchfield, former co-founder of PageFair (acquired by Blockthrough) and DemonWare (acquired by Activision Blizzard); Dr Tilman Schaefer, a founding team member at DemonWare; COO Dorothy Creaven, former Managing Director at Rent The Runway and co-founder of Element Wave; and Michael Cordner, co-founder of Mindconnex
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