Helsinki's Zero raises $10.3M seed to challenge CRM incumbents with AI agents

The startup positions itself as a challenger to CRM providers Salesforce and HubSpot. It says its technology replaces both the CRM and the range of tools teams use for prospecting, customer success and revenue operations, combining them into a single system that operates autonomously. Zero's AI agents build prospect lists, send outbound emails and monitor customer relationships after onboarding, aiming to reduce manual work across the customer lifecycle.

Zero was founded in 2024 by Tuomo Riekki, who co-founded the Helsinki-based advertising platform Smartly, and Santtu Koivumäki, who led Smartly's go-to-market efforts across five markets. According to Tech.eu, the pair helped Smartly reach $100 million in annual recurring revenue.

EU-Startups reported comments from Fabian Hedin, co-founder and CTO of Lovable and an angel investor in Zero, who said knowledge work is becoming more autonomous and that Zero is building a go-to-market operating system that is autonomous by default.

New tax reliefs and entrepreneur support aim to keep British firms scaling at home, though experts say incentives alone will not close the scaleup gap.