Helsinki-based Zero has secured $2.7 million in pre-seed funding led by 20VC, with participation from 20Growth, 20Product, Discovery Ventures, Illusian, Greens, and angel investors such as James Hawkins (PostHog) and Irena Goldenberg (Highland). The funding will support the development of Zero’s AI-powered “zero-click” CRM, which aims to streamline B2B growth operations by automating tasks like lead enrichment, buying signal detection, and outreach messaging. By unifying scattered data and eliminating manual workflows, Zero seeks to replace traditional go-to-market tools with an intuitive, fast, and comprehensive platform, while collaborating with early design partners to refine its solution.
Founded by Tuomo Riekki and Santtu Koivumäki, who previously scaled Smartly.io to a $100M+ ARR martech leader, Zero aims to address inefficiencies in the way modern B2B companies manage their sales and growth operations. They describe the current go-to-market (GTM) tech landscape as overly complex, requiring companies—even at early stages—to manage a web of fragmented tools. This proliferation of software, while promising incremental improvements, often leads to disjointed data and workflows, ultimately diminishing the effectiveness of sales teams.
Zero’s solution is a CRM system built with a “zero-click” philosophy, aiming to automate many of the manual tasks that have become a burden in modern sales processes. By leveraging artificial intelligence, the platform promises to unify customer data, streamline workflows, and simplify outreach efforts. The system will be designed to automatically gather, enrich, and maintain customer information, enabling companies to identify and engage with leads more effectively while reducing administrative overhead.
The concept has been developed after months of conversations with companies in major startup hubs such as San Francisco, London, and Berlin. According to Zero, these discussions confirmed a widespread demand for fundamental changes in the way CRM systems function. While incremental improvements have been common in the space, Zero’s founders believe that a more substantial shift is needed—one that integrates speed, simplicity, and AI capabilities into a single platform.
20VC’s Harry Stebbings, whose firm led the funding round, expressed confidence in Zero’s vision, citing the founders’ track record and innovative approach to addressing longstanding challenges in the B2B market. The funding will support the continued development of the platform, with Zero already collaborating with select companies as early design partners to refine its offering.
As Harry Stebbings, Founder of 20VC puts it: “I can count on one hand the amount of world-class product visionaries that walk into our office each year, so when I met Tuomo and Santtu, I knew leading their pre-Seed round was a no-brainer. Having scaled Smartly to a unicorn martech automation giant, Tuomo is considered one of the greatest product minds out of the Nordics. And they are building a platform that 20VC and its portfolio will use from day 1.”
As the CRM space evolves, Zero’s approach highlights a growing recognition of the need for tools that not only manage data but also actively simplify and enhance the sales process. The company’s vision, if realized, could represent a significant step forward in how businesses engage with their customers.
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Read the orginal article: https://arcticstartup.com/zero-raises-2-7m-pre-seed/
