Summary: Lithuanian startup Nexos.ai, founded by the creators of Nord Security, has raised a 20 million Series A round to help enterprises adopt AI securely. Acting as a neutral intermediary between employees and AI tools, Nexos.ai aims to prevent data leaks while enabling productivity. With strong backing from top investors and a growing customer base, the company plans to expand across Europe and North America, focusing on regulated industries and tech-savvy businesses.
Nexos.ai’s Mission: Secure AI Adoption for Enterprises
For many enterprises, AI remains either an unfulfilled promise or a potential security risk. Nexos.ai, a Lithuanian startup founded by Tomas Okmanas and Eimantas Sabaliauskas—the duo behind Nord Security—addresses this challenge by providing a platform that acts as a “Switzerland for LLMs.” Instead of banning AI use, Nexos.ai serves as a neutral middleman between employees and AI systems, ensuring sensitive corporate data stays protected without compromising productivity.
Strong Funding Backing and Experienced Founders
Just months after emerging from stealth with an $8 million funding round led by Index Ventures, Nexos.ai has secured a 20 million (approximately $35 million) Series A round co-led by Index Ventures and Evantic Capital at a valuation of around 200 million ($350 million). Previous investors such as Creandum and Dig Ventures, along with angel investors including CEOs from Datadog, Klarna, Supercell, and Wix, also participated.
Evantic Capital, a new venture firm launched by former Sequoia Capital partner Matt Miller, played a key role in this round, even though Nexos.ai was not actively fundraising. The founders, known for bootstrapping their previous ventures like NordVPN, now recognize the strategic value that venture capital and expert networks bring to accelerating growth.
How Nexos.ai Works: AI Workspace and AI Gateway
Nexos.ai offers two main components: an AI Workspace interface for employees and an AI Gateway for developers. The AI Gateway acts as a control layer that manages security, compliance, and cost oversight while reducing fragmentation—a major barrier to AI adoption. It provides a single access point to over 200 AI models, with plans to expand support for private models that handle sensitive data securely.
Target Customers and Market Expansion
Currently, Nexos.ai focuses on tech-savvy companies already using AI daily and organizations in regulated industries concerned about governance and data sovereignty. The startup identified the AI governance gap while managing their portfolio at Tesonet, which also includes customers using Nexos.ai’s platform, such as the Bulgarian fintech unicorn Payhawk.
With the new funding, Nexos.ai plans to expand its presence across Europe and North America. Growing concerns about data sovereignty have also opened opportunities with public institutions, potentially broadening the company’s market beyond enterprise clients.
Looking Ahead: Growth and Impact
Okmanas shared that Nexos.ai is conducting 50 to 60 demo calls weekly, helping companies navigate the complexities of AI adoption. For example, within Tesonet’s portfolio, Hostinger—a web hosting provider—used an AI assistant to reduce human support needs, saving 20 million and avoiding hiring 500 new employees.
While Nexos.ai has not disclosed its own revenue, the company plans to grow its team to 100 employees within its first year, primarily based in Europe. Their mission remains clear: to remove barriers to AI adoption by ensuring enterprises can harness AI securely and effectively.