Geniez AI

Enterprise Software · AI Agents · Mainframe Modernization

Acquisition

Rocket Software buys Israeli AI startup Geniez AI in deal valued up to $100M

A thirteen-month-old team of six turned a modest seed round into a nine-figure exit, signaling fierce competition to automate aging mainframe systems.

• Rocket Software announced it has acquired Geniez AI, an Israeli generative AI startup, in a deal reportedly estimated at up to $100 million; financial terms were not officially disclosed.
• Geniez AI builds AI agents that run directly on mainframe computers, monitoring live systems, diagnosing incidents, and executing workflows through natural-language commands.
• The startup was founded in September 2025 by Gil Peleg and Dan Shprung, Mamram (IDF computing unit) alumni who previously built and sold mainframe data company Model9 to BMC Software in 2023.
• Geniez AI employed only six people and had raised a $6 million seed round in September 2025 co-led by StageOne Ventures and Canapi Ventures before the acquisition offer arrived.
• Rocket had declined to join Geniez AI's seed round and had earlier lost a bid to acquire Model9, the founders' previous company, to BMC Software.
• Geniez AI's engineering and technical leadership are joining Rocket to expand Rocket EVA, the company's agentic AI platform for managing core mainframe systems.
• The deal shows how quickly enterprise buyers now pay nine figures for small teams that crack narrow but high-value automation problems in legacy, regulation-heavy infrastructure like banking mainframes.