A new AI orchestration startup from the founders of Unicorn Nord Security Lithuania is poised to help companies bring AI projects into production, with an initial focus on bringing greater visibility, security and adaptability to large language models (LLM). Nexos.ai, as it was initially called, is the handiwork of Tomas Okmanas (pictured above) and Eimantas Sabaliauskas, who built one of the most recognizable brands not only in Lithuania, but in all of Europe. Nord Security, best known for its flagship VPN product NordVPN, started the first 10 years before getting a $100 million investment in 2022 at a value of $1.6 billion. His new company came out of stealth today with $8 million in funding from several high-profile backers, including major investor Index Ventures, which has now made its first investment in Lithuania. “We’ve known Tomas and the work he’s been doing for years, so we heard that he was building a new company in the AI space, and he was finally willing to take on this venture capital money. [early] stage, we are very excited,” Index Ventures partner Hannah Seal told TechCrunch. Other well-known investors include Creandum and Dig Ventures, and important angels such as the CEOs of Datadog, Klarna, Supercell, and Wix also participated. Capitalizing on the catalyst Now, the team that wants to create AI so production must connect various tools, which may include recruitment and building a team with the necessary skills. This is where Nexos.ai wants to step in. “I have seen that there is a big gap between running AI and going to production,” Okmanas told TechCrunch in an interview. “When you test AI in your lab, it might work and it might be useful, but if you want to put it into production, especially in an enterprise, how do you ensure high availability? How to ensure security? How to manage expenses?” Nord Security has existed for more than ten years, but five years ago, it was folded into an umbrella company called Tesonet, an incubator with a portfolio of more than two dozen businesses. One of them is web hosting company Hostinger, which recently added AI-enabled intelligence to its website building tools. Okmanas, a member of the board and shareholder of Hostinger, said that some of the problems he encountered were the catalyst for what would become Nexos.ai. “We wanted to use AI in website builders, so we turned on OpenAI, we started testing, and we put it into production,” Okmanas said. “In August, we had a bill of $150,000. For what? Why is it so expensive? No visibility. AI website builder at HostingerImage Credits:Hostinger And when OpenAI went down several times, Okmanas was convinced that something had to be done to make it easier to spread , manage and optimize the “increasingly complex AI model ecosystem” that organizations need. Through a simple API (application programming interface), customers can access more than 200 AI models, from the name incumbent large ones like OpenAI and Anthropic to the smaller LLM. The idea is that if OpenAI goes down, companies can temporarily (and automatically) switch to a different provider without stopping. Or if the cost of accessing a particular LLM explodes for any reason, companies can transition to others to keep costs down. Nexos.ai also brings “intelligent caching” into the mix – if certain queries are repeated by multiple users, the system can turn on its own database instead of continuing to engage LLM, which can be expensive. In terms of security and compliance, Nexos.ai also prevents individuals from sending personal data to LLM providers, or if an employee leaves the company, access can be terminated immediately. Nexos.ai Image Credit:Nexos.ai There is no elephant in the room, however: One of the reasons companies are hesitant to embrace AI is the issue of data security – healthcare companies, banks, or insurance companies cannot do it alone. trust the LLM provider with all sensitive information. It’s worth noting that Hostinger itself suffered a data breach in 2019 and NordVPN has also been hacked in the past – the type of attack that all companies face today. This raises the question of how Nexos.ai handles the data, since it already hosts everything on its own infrastructure. Okmanas said the company will offer self-hosting in the future, and already supports integration with the company’s own internal LLM. It also has guardrails to detect when data, such as personally identifiable information (PII), is sent to – in such cases, it can re-route the data back to LLM or the company’s database of origin. But if it’s a general question, like a customer asking an AI agent for location details and opening hours, then the question will be handled on the Nexos.ai side. From idea to startup Going from idea to formal incorporation took Nexos.ai about six weeks, and while the speed of securing funding is largely down to the founders’ pedigree, a large part of it is just time. “I think we’ve finally gotten over the AI hype, and now the real applications are coming,” Seal added. “All large companies know this is really useful, and must use AI at scale. And now it’s time for the infrastructure to achieve this model. The speed of execution, though, is due to the many organizational setups in Tesonet, which has around 4,000 employees in its portfolio. This enables Okmanas quickly assembled a team of around 30 people he knows and trusts to work on Nexos.ai full-time year, no need to say what,” Okmanas said. “We will also hire from outside, but it will take more time.” The Nexos.ai platform is set to launch at the end of March, although Okmanas says that it is already working with “beta customers and partners design.”
