Observed Signal · Sep 15, 2026 · Funding · Source: Tech.eu (European Tech & Deals) · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Funding Market: Zero raises $10.3M seed for AI CRM challenger
Finnish startup Zero, a go-to-market operating system for the AI era, has raised $10.3 million (€8.93 million) in a seed round led by New York-based Primary Venture Partners. The round included participation from Inception Fund, Defiant, Greens, and founders of Lovable, Supercell, Langdock, and Silo AI. Founded in 2024 by Tuomo Riekki and Santtu Koivumäki, both veterans of Finnish adtech company Smartly, Zero challenges Salesforce and HubSpot by offering AI agents that automate prospect list building, outbound emails, and customer relationship monitoring. The startup opened to the public on the announcement day, following a private beta where customers like Teamspective reported doubling new business after switching.
Funding round for an AI CRM challenger signals trend towards AI-native revenue tools, but not yet industry-shifting for AdTech specifically.
Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Zero raised $10.3 million (€8.93 million) in seed funding.
- The round was led by Primary Venture Partners, with participation from Inception Fund, Defiant, Greens, and founders of Lovable, Supercell, Langdock, and Silo AI.
- Zero was founded in 2024 by Tuomo Riekki and Santtu Koivumäki, former Smartly executives.
- Zero's AI agents automate prospecting, outbound emails, and customer relationship monitoring, replacing traditional CRM tools.
- The company opened to the public on September 15, 2026, following a successful private beta.
Connected Companies & Entities
7 Entities mappedSmartly
Cross-channel advertising software for creative, media and measurement.
“Zero was founded by Tuomo Riekki, who co-founded Finland-founded AI advertising platform Smartly, and Santtu Koivumäki, who led Smartly’s go...”
Lovable
AI platform for building and deploying web apps from prompts.
“with participation from Inception Fund, Defiant, Greens and founders of Lovable, Supercell, Langdock and Silo AI....”
PostHog
Open-source product analytics and feature delivery for software teams.
“Zero’s earlier backers include Harry Stebbings’ 20VC, PostHog co-founder James Hawkins and operator funds backed by executives from Spotify,...”
Supercell
Mobile game publisher focused on live-service free-to-play franchises.
“with participation from Inception Fund, Defiant, Greens and founders of Lovable, Supercell, Langdock and Silo AI....”
AMD Silo AI
AMD’s enterprise AI research, model deployment and engineering organisation.
“with participation from Inception Fund, Defiant, Greens and founders of Lovable, Supercell, Langdock and Silo AI....”
Salesforce
Enterprise SaaS platform for CRM, marketing, data, analytics, and workflows.
“Zero is positioning itself as the 2026 Salesforce or HubSpot challenger....”
HubSpot
CRM and growth software platform for business teams.
“Zero is positioning itself as the 2026 Salesforce or HubSpot challenger....”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
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