Trace.Space secures $4M seed to expedite product development in manufacturing - Related to launch, product, trace.space, bottleneck:, $4m
Cognida.ai raises $15M to fix enterprise AI’s biggest bottleneck: deployment
[website], a Chicago-based AI enterprise, has raised $15 million in Series A funding to help enterprises move beyond AI pilots to production-grade solutions that deliver measurable business impact. The funding round was led by Nexus Venture Partners.
The investment comes at a critical time when enterprises are struggling to transform AI experiments into operational solutions. While 87% of enterprises are investing in AI, only 20% successfully deploy solutions into production, .
“Enterprise AI adoption has reached its tipping point,” Feroze Mohammed, founder and CEO of Cognida, introduced in an . “The biggest challenges enterprises face isn’t just building AI models — it’s getting them to work in production.”.
How Zunō platform cuts AI implementation time from 8 months to 12 weeks.
Mohammed, who previously led Hitachi Vantara as COO, identified three major barriers to enterprise AI adoption: data readiness, integration challenges with existing business processes and lack of AI expertise within organizations.
To address these challenges, Cognida has developed Zunō, a platform that includes accelerators for predictive modeling, intelligent document processing and advanced graph-based solutions. The enterprise asserts its approach reduces typical AI implementation times from 6 to 8 months to 10 to 12 weeks.
“Most conventional approaches require long lead times of doing consulting projects, doing a lot of change management with long timelines and long upfront investments,” Anup Gupta, managing director at Nexus Venture Partners, noted in an interview with VentureBeat. “Cognida is one of the first times we have come across a business that can talk about demonstrable use cases across various industries.”.
The firm has already deployed solutions at more than 30 enterprises. In one case, Cognida helped a major garage door manufacturer transform its catalog generation process from a six-month cycle to just weeks using generative AI. The solution allows the manufacturer to create virtual door designs and render them in different settings, enabling rapid testing with dealers.
Other successful implementations include a 70% improvement in invoice processing speed and a one percent reduction in customer churn for SaaS clients — metrics that translate to significant revenue impact for large enterprises.
The future of enterprise software: Every stack is being rewritten with AI.
The funding will support three primary initiatives: market expansion, intellectual property development and capability building. Mohammed envisions Cognida becoming “the practical AI corporation for the enterprise” within five years.
“Every software stack is being rewritten leveraging AI,” noted Gupta. “In the next few years, every workflow in all enterprises will have a lot more AI than is being used today.”.
This investment reflects a broader trend in enterprise AI, where focus is shifting from experimental projects to practical implementations that deliver clear return on investment. As businesses seek to operationalize AI while maintaining existing systems, Cognida’s approach of building solutions that integrate with current workflows appears particularly timely.
The enterprise plans to expand its AI solution library, advance its Zunō platform and grow its implementation teams to meet increasing enterprise demand. With offices in Chicago, Silicon Valley and Hyderabad, India, Cognida serves clients across manufacturing, healthcare, finance and technology sectors.
Industry analysts suggest this funding round could signal a new phase in enterprise AI adoption, where practical implementation and measurable outcomes take precedence over experimental pilots. As organizations continue to grapple with AI integration challenges, solutions that can demonstrate concrete business impact while working within existing systems may find increasing traction in the market.
Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive Software, talked about the latest plans the triple-A game publisher has with its upcoming titles and his ......
Snail Games showcased it will show up at the Game Developers Conference (GDC 2025), with a lineup of updates, first-look reveals, and new partnerships to h......
“You’re not Steve Rogers,” growls Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross with signature Harrison Ford crankiness in Captain America: Brave New World, the new Mar......
Traveltech Atlys acquires Artionis ahead of UK launch
Traveltech Atlys has today showcased its expansion into the UK market. The digital visa platform’s UK expansion follows a $20M funding round from marquee global investors.
As part of its UK expansion, Atlys has acquired Artionis, a UK-based visa services firm, bringing aboard 40 specialists across offices in London, Manchester, and Edinburgh. It plans to double headcount to 80 employees in the UK this year. Atlys is an online platform that helps people apply for visas to various countries. Atlys offers services for visas to the United Kingdom, the United States, India, and other countries.
The platform's predictive engine provides exact visa approval timelines and backs this certainty with refund guarantees for rejected or delayed applications. individuals can complete applications in under five minutes and upload documents once to become visa-ready for more than 100 countries, eliminating redundant paperwork. Within six months of its launch, Atlys rapidly became the largest visa processor in India – capturing a lion’s share of the market.
Roughly 13 percent of the UK population are non-UK passport holders, offering a key market opportunity for Atlys. "Expanding to the UK represents more than just market growth – it's about creating a more equitable travel ecosystem," presented Mohak Nahta, Founder and CEO of Atlys.
"Our platform is designed to make international travel accessible to everyone, regardless of their passport strength, and the UK's strategic position will help us extend this impact across Europe."
"Since our initial investment, Atlys has demonstrated exceptional growth, processing over two million visas while maintaining strong user satisfaction," unveiled Shraeyansh Thakur, Principal at Peak XV. "Their data-driven approach and focus on user experience set them apart. The UK expansion represents a significant step toward becoming the definitive platform for global travel enablement."
Cyprus-based INXY Payments, an EU-authorized payment platform bridging together traditional finance and the crypto economy, has raised $3 million inve......
Deeptech Pixel Photonics has received a grant of €1M from the German Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND) to further develop its wavegu......
Trace.Space secures $4M seed to expedite product development in manufacturing
[website], an AI-enhanced requirements management platform for engineers developing industrial products, today introduced a $4 million seed investment led by Cherry Ventures, with Outlast Fund and existing investors Nebular, Fiedler Capital, and Change Ventures also participating.
This funding will be used to enhance engineering, product development and go-to-market efforts in Europe. [website] helps businesses design and build the increasingly complex software-enabled hardware products of the future, such as electric and autonomous vehicles, satellites, robots, semiconductors and medical devices.
Recent data indicates fluctuations in industrial production across Europe. For instance, in November 2024, the European Union's manufacturing production decreased by [website] percent compared to the same month in the previous year.
The European manufacturing sector encompasses a wide range of activities, from small-scale enterprises using traditional production techniques to large enterprises manufacturing complex products like aircraft. This diversity leads to varying production speeds and complexities.
"We're thrilled to partner with Cherry Ventures as we build the next-generation requirements management system that connects business individuals, suppliers, and stakeholders across the entire value chain," showcased Janis Vavere, Co-Founder and CEO of [website].
"It is painful to see engineers at great companies struggle with outdated processes and legacy practices. Our mission is to give engineering organizations the tools to win back their market share."
The platform has centralized workspaces where manufacturers and suppliers can work together on shared product requirements.
"This is Cherry Ventures’ first investment in the Baltics, and we are excited to support [website] as they build from Europe for the world," stated Dinika Mahtani, Partner at Cherry Ventures.
"Their innovative approach to modernizing requirements management aligns perfectly with our belief in backing founders who are creating category-defining solutions."
Apple is set to unveil the long-awaited iPhone SE 4 “ in the coming days,” .
To align with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Microsoft is updating Windows 11’s Start Menu Search, but only for customers in the European Economic Ar......
Munich healthtech startup Avelios has raised €30 million Series A (€30m) funding led by Sequoia to advance its efforts in developing its hospital data......
Market Impact Analysis
Market Growth Trend
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.0% | 14.4% | 15.2% | 16.8% | 17.8% | 18.3% | 18.5% |
Quarterly Growth Rate
| Q1 2024 | Q2 2024 | Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16.8% | 17.5% | 18.2% | 18.5% |
Market Segments and Growth Drivers
| Segment | Market Share | Growth Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Transformation | 31% | 22.5% |
| IoT Solutions | 24% | 19.8% |
| Blockchain | 13% | 24.9% |
| AR/VR Applications | 18% | 29.5% |
| Other Innovations | 14% | 15.7% |
Technology Maturity Curve
Different technologies within the ecosystem are at varying stages of maturity:
Competitive Landscape Analysis
| Company | Market Share |
|---|---|
| Amazon Web Services | 16.3% |
| Microsoft Azure | 14.7% |
| Google Cloud | 9.8% |
| IBM Digital | 8.5% |
| Salesforce | 7.9% |
Future Outlook and Predictions
The Cognida Raises Enterprise landscape is evolving rapidly, driven by technological advancements, changing threat vectors, and shifting business requirements. Based on current trends and expert analyses, we can anticipate several significant developments across different time horizons:
Year-by-Year Technology Evolution
Based on current trajectory and expert analyses, we can project the following development timeline:
Technology Maturity Curve
Different technologies within the ecosystem are at varying stages of maturity, influencing adoption timelines and investment priorities:
Innovation Trigger
- Generative AI for specialized domains
- Blockchain for supply chain verification
Peak of Inflated Expectations
- Digital twins for business processes
- Quantum-resistant cryptography
Trough of Disillusionment
- Consumer AR/VR applications
- General-purpose blockchain
Slope of Enlightenment
- AI-driven analytics
- Edge computing
Plateau of Productivity
- Cloud infrastructure
- Mobile applications
Technology Evolution Timeline
- Technology adoption accelerating across industries
- digital transformation initiatives becoming mainstream
- Significant transformation of business processes through advanced technologies
- new digital business models emerging
- Fundamental shifts in how technology integrates with business and society
- emergence of new technology paradigms
Expert Perspectives
Leading experts in the digital innovation sector provide diverse perspectives on how the landscape will evolve over the coming years:
"Technology transformation will continue to accelerate, creating both challenges and opportunities."
— Industry Expert
"Organizations must balance innovation with practical implementation to achieve meaningful results."
— Technology Analyst
"The most successful adopters will focus on business outcomes rather than technology for its own sake."
— Research Director
Areas of Expert Consensus
- Acceleration of Innovation: The pace of technological evolution will continue to increase
- Practical Integration: Focus will shift from proof-of-concept to operational deployment
- Human-Technology Partnership: Most effective implementations will optimize human-machine collaboration
- Regulatory Influence: Regulatory frameworks will increasingly shape technology development
Short-Term Outlook (1-2 Years)
In the immediate future, organizations will focus on implementing and optimizing currently available technologies to address pressing digital innovation challenges:
- Technology adoption accelerating across industries
- digital transformation initiatives becoming mainstream
These developments will be characterized by incremental improvements to existing frameworks rather than revolutionary changes, with emphasis on practical deployment and measurable outcomes.
Mid-Term Outlook (3-5 Years)
As technologies mature and organizations adapt, more substantial transformations will emerge in how security is approached and implemented:
- Significant transformation of business processes through advanced technologies
- new digital business models emerging
This period will see significant changes in security architecture and operational models, with increasing automation and integration between previously siloed security functions. Organizations will shift from reactive to proactive security postures.
Long-Term Outlook (5+ Years)
Looking further ahead, more fundamental shifts will reshape how cybersecurity is conceptualized and implemented across digital ecosystems:
- Fundamental shifts in how technology integrates with business and society
- emergence of new technology paradigms
These long-term developments will likely require significant technical breakthroughs, new regulatory frameworks, and evolution in how organizations approach security as a fundamental business function rather than a technical discipline.
Key Risk Factors and Uncertainties
Several critical factors could significantly impact the trajectory of digital innovation evolution:
Organizations should monitor these factors closely and develop contingency strategies to mitigate potential negative impacts on technology implementation timelines.
Alternative Future Scenarios
The evolution of technology can follow different paths depending on various factors including regulatory developments, investment trends, technological breakthroughs, and market adoption. We analyze three potential scenarios:
Optimistic Scenario
Rapid adoption of advanced technologies with significant business impact
Key Drivers: Supportive regulatory environment, significant research breakthroughs, strong market incentives, and rapid user adoption.
Probability: 25-30%
Base Case Scenario
Measured implementation with incremental improvements
Key Drivers: Balanced regulatory approach, steady technological progress, and selective implementation based on clear ROI.
Probability: 50-60%
Conservative Scenario
Technical and organizational barriers limiting effective adoption
Key Drivers: Restrictive regulations, technical limitations, implementation challenges, and risk-averse organizational cultures.
Probability: 15-20%
Scenario Comparison Matrix
| Factor | Optimistic | Base Case | Conservative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Implementation Timeline | Accelerated | Steady | Delayed |
| Market Adoption | Widespread | Selective | Limited |
| Technology Evolution | Rapid | Progressive | Incremental |
| Regulatory Environment | Supportive | Balanced | Restrictive |
| Business Impact | Transformative | Significant | Modest |
Transformational Impact
Technology becoming increasingly embedded in all aspects of business operations. This evolution will necessitate significant changes in organizational structures, talent development, and strategic planning processes.
The convergence of multiple technological trends—including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and ubiquitous connectivity—will create both unprecedented security challenges and innovative defensive capabilities.
Implementation Challenges
Technical complexity and organizational readiness remain key challenges. Organizations will need to develop comprehensive change management strategies to successfully navigate these transitions.
Regulatory uncertainty, particularly around emerging technologies like AI in security applications, will require flexible security architectures that can adapt to evolving compliance requirements.
Key Innovations to Watch
Artificial intelligence, distributed systems, and automation technologies leading innovation. Organizations should monitor these developments closely to maintain competitive advantages and effective security postures.
Strategic investments in research partnerships, technology pilots, and talent development will position forward-thinking organizations to leverage these innovations early in their development cycle.
Technical Glossary
Key technical terms and definitions to help understand the technologies discussed in this article.
Understanding the following technical concepts is essential for grasping the full implications of the security threats and defensive measures discussed in this article. These definitions provide context for both technical and non-technical readers.
API beginner
How APIs enable communication between different software systemsSaaS intermediate
platform intermediate
Related Articles
