Enterprises need entry to new software program and AI instruments however can’t threat sending their delicate knowledge out to a third-party software-as-a-service (Software as a Service) suppliers. Tensor9 seems to be to assist software program corporations land extra enterprise clients by serving to them deploy their software program immediately right into a buyer’s tech stack.
Tensor9 converts a software program vendor’s code into the format wanted to deploy into their buyer’s tech surroundings. Tensor9 then makes a digital twin of the deployed software program, or a miniaturized mannequin of the deployed software program’s infrastructure, so Tensor9’s clients can monitor how the software program is working of their buyer’s surroundings. Tensor9 may also help corporations deploy into any premise starting from cloud to reveal steel servers.
Michael Ten-Pow, Tensor9’s co-founder and CEO, instructed TechCrunch that Tensor9’s means to switch software program to any premise, and its use of digital twin know-how to assist with distant monitoring, helps Tensor9 stand out from different corporations, like Octopus Deploy or Nuon, that additionally assist corporations deploy software program right into a buyer’s surroundings.
“You can’t simply throw a chunk of software program over the wall, or it’s very troublesome to throw a chunk of software program over the wall, and know what’s happening, be capable to discover points, debug them, repair them,” Ten-Pow (pictured above, left) stated. “They see it working, they will debug it, they will log in and perceive what the problems are and repair them.”
He stated the timing is true for Tensor9’s tech on account of tailwinds from the rise of AI. Enterprises and monetary establishments need to undertake AI tech, however can’t threat sending their knowledge to a third-party.
“An enterprise search vendor may go to, let’s say, J.P. Morgan and say, ‘hey, I would like entry to all of your six parabytes of information to construct an clever search layer on prime of it in order that your inside staff can have a dialog with their firm’s knowledge,’ there’s no approach that’s going to work,” Ten-Pow stated.
Ten-Pow, an ex-engineer at AWS, stated he had a “lengthy, pretty winding path” to the launch of Tensor9. He acquired the concept for the corporate whereas engaged on one other potential concept that didn’t work out. He spent a while determining if he might discover a technique to make it simpler for software program distributors to get SOC 2 licensed, a cybersecurity compliance framework, to assist them unlock clients that required their distributors to have it.
While that didn’t work out, he found from buyer calls that what enterprises actually needed was the software program to simply run in their very own tech surroundings. But many software program corporations, particularly startups, don’t have the sources to supply a bespoke on-premise choice for every enterprise buyer.
That sentiment grew to become the idea for Tensor9 which Ten-Pow launched in 2024. Later within the yr, he introduced on two of his ex-AWS colleagues, Matthew Michie and Matthew Shanker, as co-founders.
The firm discovered early traction with voice AI corporations. Since then, they’ve began to broaden to work in different verticals together with: enterprise search, enterprise databases and knowledge administration. The firm at present works with AI corporations together with: 11x, Retell AI and Dyna AI, amongst others.
Tensor9 bootstrapped for its first yr and lately raised a $4 million seed spherical led by Wing VC with participation from Level Up Ventures, Devang Sachdev of Model Ventures, NVAngels, an angel group of ex-Nvidia staff, and different angel buyers. Getting buyers on board with the concept wasn’t too difficult, Ten-Pow stated, as a result of the VCs they spoke with had seen their portfolio corporations wrestle with this precise downside. Tensor9 simply needed to persuade buyers that they had been the proper workforce for the job.
“We have a easy mannequin however beneath the covers there’s quite a lot of complexity that makes that occur, arduous technical challenges that we’ve solved to make that occur,” Ten-Pow stated. “I believe that was one of many issues that helped us persuade the buyers to spend money on us.”
The firm plans to make use of the funding for hiring and for constructing out the subsequent technology of its know-how in order that it may possibly work with clients in additional verticals.
“There’s been an evolution from [on premise] to the cloud and we predict that this concept of software program lives the place it must, and operates the place it must, is that subsequent step that’s a form of synthesis of the earlier on-premise and cloud concepts,” Ten-Pow stated.
