Zeit AI

AI Data Engineering · Enterprise Software

Funding

Ex-Palantir founders raise €5M seed for Zeit AI's data engineer

The founders say the startup was already profitable, raising mainly to formalize ties with high-profile strategic advisers.

• Zeit AI closed a €5 million (~$5.8M) seed round backed by Y Combinator, Oxford's Seed Fund, Sequoia Capital Scout Fund, ACE Ventures and Hasso Plattner VC, plus angels including former German finance minister Christian Lindner and 2014 World Cup winner Mario Götze.
• Founded in 2024 by Palantir alumni Leopold von Waldthausen and Marvin Bornstein, Zeit AI builds ZeitMind, an AI agent that connects ERP, CRM and 600+ other systems to automate data work for mid-sized companies.
• ZeitMind runs entirely in German data centers for data sovereignty and can turn a plain-language request into a working dashboard, report or application the same afternoon.
• Zeit AI reached €1 million in annual recurring revenue within 12 months with a team of just six people and says the business is already quasi-profitable.
• Von Waldthausen led Palantir's DACH customer business while Bornstein worked as a forward-deployed engineer on early versions of Palantir's AI Platform, projects the founders say generated €50 million in revenue.
• The company plans to use the capital to hire more engineers, expand its roughly 30 enterprise deployments, and open a London office alongside its Munich base.
• The raise tests whether Palantir's expensive, engineer-heavy deployment model can be compressed into self-serve software cheap enough for Europe's mid-market, a segment big vendors have largely ignored.