Enterprises need entry to new software program and AI instruments however can’t danger sending their delicate information out to a third-party software-as-a-service (SaaS) suppliers. Tensor9 seems to be to assist software program corporations land extra enterprise prospects by serving to them deploy their software program straight 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 prospects can monitor how the software program is working of their buyer’s surroundings. Tensor9 may help corporations deploy into any premise starting from cloud to reveal steel servers.
Michael Ten-Pow, Tensor9’s co-founder and CEO, advised TechCrunch that Tensor9’s potential to switch software program to any premise, and its use of digital twin expertise 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’ll be able to’t simply throw a chunk of software program over the wall, or it’s very tough to throw a chunk of software program over the wall, and know what’s occurring, be capable to discover points, debug them, repair them,” Ten-Pow (pictured above, left) mentioned. “They see it working, they’ll debug it, they’ll log in and perceive what the problems are and repair them.”
He mentioned the timing is true for Tensor9’s tech as a consequence of tailwinds from the rise of AI. Enterprises and monetary establishments wish to undertake AI tech, however can’t danger sending their information to a third-party.
“An enterprise search vendor may go to, let’s say, J.P. Morgan and say, ‘hey, I want entry to all of your six parabytes of knowledge to construct an clever search layer on prime of it in order that your inside staff can have a dialog with their firm’s information,’ there’s no means that’s going to work,” Ten-Pow mentioned.
Ten-Pow, an ex-engineer at AWS, mentioned he had a “lengthy, pretty winding path” to the launch of Tensor9. He received the thought for the corporate whereas engaged on one other potential concept that didn’t work out. He spent a while determining if he may discover a option to make it simpler for software program distributors to get SOC 2 licensed, a cybersecurity compliance framework, to assist them unlock prospects that required their distributors to have it.
Whereas 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. However many software program corporations, particularly startups, don’t have the sources to supply a bespoke on-premise possibility 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 corporate discovered early traction with voice AI corporations. Since then, they’ve began to increase to work in different verticals together with: enterprise search, enterprise databases and information administration. The corporate presently 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 Stage Up Ventures, Devang Sachdev of Mannequin Ventures, NVAngels, an angel group of ex-Nvidia staff, and different angel traders. Getting traders on board with the thought wasn’t too difficult, Ten-Pow mentioned, as a result of the VCs they spoke with had seen their portfolio corporations battle with this precise drawback. Tensor9 simply needed to persuade traders that they have been the proper group for the job.
“Now we have a easy mannequin however beneath the covers there’s plenty of complexity that makes that occur, arduous technical challenges that we’ve solved to make that occur,” Ten-Pow mentioned. “I feel that was one of many issues that helped us persuade the traders to spend money on us.”
The corporate plans to make use of the funding for hiring and for constructing out the subsequent technology of its expertise in order that it may work with prospects in additional verticals.
“There’s been an evolution from [on premise] to the cloud and we expect 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 mentioned.