Cologne-based AI startup octonomy secures 20 million US dollars
The Cologne-based company octonomy AI has successfully completed a seed financing round of 20 million US dollars. The round was led by Macquarie Capital Venture Capital, with participation from Capnamic, NRW.Bank and the TechVision Fund. This makes the young company, which was only founded in 2024, one of the best-funded AI start-ups in the last two years.
AI platform automates complex support activities
octonomy is developing a platform that enables AI agents (known as octo workers) to be deployed quickly and flexibly to support customer service, technical support or field service teams. Unlike conventional solutions, octonomy automates not only simple processes, but also activities that previously required specialized expertise.
Our agents deliver a proven 95+ percent response quality and significantly reduce the workload of teams. With Macquarie at our side, we have gained an international partner to make this strength available in Europe and the USA.
Sushel Bijganath, founder and CEO of octonomy
The technology processes unstructured company data, such as technical documentation, manuals or compliance guidelines, with exceptional precision. According to the company, the platform achieves an accuracy rate of 95 percent, compared to around 50 percent for standard systems on the market. This positions octonomy as a business AI platform for complex knowledge work. Thanks to human-level response quality, omnichannel integration (chat, email, voice) and an implementation time of less than 20 days, the solution can be quickly integrated into existing systems.
Experienced founding team with an international background
The company is backed by an experienced founding team: Sushel Bijganath (CEO) and Oliver Trabert (CPTO) founded octonomy together with Thorsten Grote, Markus Hanslik and Thomas Bollig. The team of around 70 people brings expertise from companies such as Meta, Amazon, Aleph Alpha, Personio, Staffbase and Sosafe.
Just five months after entering the market, octonomy is already represented in Cologne, Denver and New York and serves customers in Europe and North America.
Capital for expansion and international scaling
The new funds will primarily be used to expand sales and marketing in the DACH region and the USA. The aim is to further expand the company's market leadership in the field of AI-based support automation.
octonomy has developed an AI solution that automates complex knowledge work at expert level - far beyond the classic chatbot.
Elmar Broscheit, Global Co-Head of Macquarie Capital Venture Capital
Capnamic Partner Jörg Binnenbrücker also emphasizes:"octonomy translates expert knowledge into operational intelligence. Such technologies are crucial for bringing AI from research into industrial value creation."
AI from Cologne with global aspirations
With a total of 25 million US dollars in funding since its foundation, octonomy is one of the fastest-growing AI start-ups in Germany. The company aims to take the automation of highly qualified support activities to a new level - with German data security and EU AI Act compliance.
We reported on the 5 million pre-seed for the startup on Startbase back in February 2025.
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