European AI rising star Nexos.ai raises $30M to unlock enterprise AI adoption

For most enterprise companies, AI is a Promises that have not yet been delivered or security risk. Efforts by Lithuania’s most famous entrepreneurial duo to solve that problem have attracted attention — and funding.

A few months later Nexos.ai One came out of the theft $8 million in funding led by Index VenturesNord Security co-founders Tomas Okmanas and Imantas Sabaliauskas have closed a €30 million Series A (about $35 million) for this new startup – a platform that helps companies adopt AI tools safely by acting as an intermediary between workers and AI systems.

In Okmanus’ view, the “biggest corporate data leak” is currently brewing, as employees upload sensitive information to LLM. Instead of banning the use of AI, he wants Nexos.ai to act as a “Switzerland for LLMs” by acting as a neutral intermediary. Sitting between teams and AI tools, the platform aims to give companies the productivity gains they want but control data without fear of being tracked.

The combination of seasoned founders tackling an important enterprise issue explains why this new round was raised so quickly — co-led by Index and Evantic Capital at a €300 million valuation (about $350 million), according to a company spokesperson. Previous backers Creandum and Dig Ventures also participated, along with angel backers including the CEOs of Datadog, Klarna, Supercell, and Wix.

Evantic, new venture company Launched by former Sequoia Capital partner Matt MillerAlthough rounds were continuous enough to occur Nexos.ai Funds have not been raised, Okmanas said. He and Sabaliauskas famously bootstrapped their previous businesses, including Nord $3 billion cybersecurity company Behind NordVPN. But they are now seeing value-add from VCs.

In addition to index support, Nexos.ai Now Miller’s guidance and benefiting from it ‘Legends’ Network —140 operators who advise Ivantic’s portfolio startups in exchange for a share of the fund’s profits. Okmanas says he’s a legend himself and is drawing on the expertise of others to shape the product — where the new capital will go.

Currently, Nexos’ AI product includes an AI workspace interface for employees and an AI gateway for developers. The gateway acts as a control layer for security, cost management and compliance oversight while reducing fragmentation, which Oakmanus sees as a key barrier to AI adoption. Gateway provides a single access point for nearly 200 AI models, and the company plans to use its funding to accelerate support for private models for sensitive data.

Okmanas says his team is currently doing 50 to 60 demo calls a week, but expects traditional businesses to do “a lot of homework” to convince their boards about how they want to adopt AI. Nexos.ai Can help them by simplifying the deployment. But first, the startup is focusing on tech-savvy companies that already use AI every day, as well as companies operating in regulated industries, which have concerns about governance and sending sensitive data to AI models hosted in foreign countries.

Okmanas and Sabaliauskas identified the gap in AI governance while overseeing Tessonet’s portfolio, their company that builds and invests in startups. Tessonet portfolio companies are also among the customers Nexos.ai Publishing, alongside Bulgarian fintech unicorn Pehak, which also has an office in Vilnius. According to a press release, the funding will now support expansion across Europe and North America.

For Okmanus, the mission is removing barriers to greater AI adoption. As the board debates whether AI can deliver real value, he points to results within Tessonet’s own portfolio: HostingerAs a web hosting provider, an AI assistant has reduced the need for human support. “So we didn’t need to hire 500 people and saved €10 million this year alone,” says Okmanas.

Despite the numbers Hostinger spoke to, Okmanas declined to reveal how much revenue Nexos.ai itself is generating. Instead, he said that by the time the company celebrates its first anniversary, the team will grow to 100 people — mostly in Europe, where data sovereignty concerns are also starting to open doors for Nexos.ai in government institutions, potentially opening a new market beyond its enterprise focus.