Jenz, a Norwegian artificial intelligence company, has closed a €540,000 pre-seed funding round led by Antler and Ada Ventures. The startup also received a NOK 1 million (€92,000) grant from Innovation Norway to support its growth.

The company operates an AI-driven system that consolidates retail data scattered across disparate platforms—from e-commerce systems and point-of-sale terminals to inventory databases, financial software and promotional channels. By unifying this fragmented information into a single accessible layer, Jenz's technology allows retailers to streamline decision-making and delegate repetitive work to its AI agent.

Remi Bjørnestad leads the company as CEO, alongside co-founders Jo Schou Sandåker (CTO) and Natnael Belete Seifo (CCO). The platform equips retailers with capabilities to examine sales patterns and stock levels, anticipate customer demand, assess pricing approaches and promotional campaigns, and handle routine administrative chores. The AI layer also watches for operational anomalies and alerts staff when human judgment is required.

Most retailers we talk to want to use AI, but don't know where and how to start. Many have tried generic AI tools and run into the same problems: they start from scratch every time and can't handle the amount of data a store actually has. When AI is making decisions that cost real money, you have to make sure it acts on real and trusted data. That's why we built the Jenz agent,

Remi Bjørnestad, co-founder and CEO of Jenz

Early traction from pilot phase

Jenz commenced customer trials in late August with both online merchants and multi-location brick-and-mortar operations. Throughout the pilot, participating retailers deployed the system across more than 20 back-office applications, assigning it over 3,000 distinct tasks.

Early results have been striking. Several pilot participants reported eliminating as much as 100 hours of manual work during their opening month. One retail business documented a 31 per cent boost in workforce productivity following deployment.

From hackathon to expansion

Jenz emerged as the winner of the Norway AI Hackathon in June, an event organised jointly by Ada Ventures and Startuplab in Mandal. Ada Ventures, impressed by the victory, became the company's initial backer. The founding team subsequently moved from Kristiansand to Oslo and enrolled in Antler's residency initiative.

The startup intends to push into territories beyond Scandinavia, with plans to enter the UK within nine months.

Source: Tech.eu