Zero raises $10.3M seed to build an AI successor to CRM

Zero said it raised a $10.3 million seed led by Primary Venture Partners and opened its AI customer-relationship product to the public after a private beta. Agents handle prospecting, record-keeping, and follow-ups while humans stay in control of customer outreach.

FINANCE desk priority — same-day company primary with a disclosed $10.3 million seed and a named lead investor for an AI-agent CRM replacement now opening to the public. This is a discrete funding-plus-launch event, not a valuation or a proven customer-outcome audit.

The same company page says the round was joined by Inception Fund, Defiant, Greens, and founders of Lovable, Supercell, Langdock, Silo AI, and Depict. Named individuals on that list include Fabian Hedin, Ilkka Paananen, and Peter Sarlin. File the $10.3 million figure, the Primary Venture Partners lead, those named funds, and those named people as Zero’s. This desk is not inventing a valuation, a Series letter, an ownership percentage, or a check size. None was printed.

Earlier backers, still company: 20VC, which led the pre-seed; PostHog co-founder James Hawkins; and operator funds the company says are backed by executives from Spotify, Wolt, Shopify, Dropbox, Meta, and OpenAI. File those earlier-backer names as Zero’s. This desk did not see the pre-seed term sheet.

Company claim — attribute, do not independently rank: Zero calls this one of the largest seed rounds a Finnish tech company has raised. File that “one of the largest” line as Zero’s. This desk did not compile a Finnish seed league table.

Product timing, company: after a private beta, Zero is now open to everyone, with a 14-day free trial and AI-assisted migration from the tools a team already uses. File the public open, the 14-day trial, and that migration line as Zero’s. This desk did not start a trial.

Product thesis, still company: agents build prospect lists, keep records updated, prepare follow-ups, and watch customer health; humans stay in control of what reaches a customer. The aim, the company says, is for a small team to handle more relationships well without adding the same amount of admin every time the business grows. Prospecting here means finding people worth talking to. Customer success here means helping a customer after they buy. File that agent-plus-human-control picture as Zero’s. This desk did not run the product.

Co-founders, as the same page has it: Tuomo Riekki and Santtu. The page prints Santtu without a last name. Riekki writes that he co-founded Smartly.io and that Santtu led Smartly’s go-to-market across five markets. File those names and those prior-role lines as Zero’s. Extra Smartly revenue color stays in Sources. This desk did not audit the bios.

Customer anecdotes attributed by Zero — company-cited claims, not an independent audit: Teamspective reports closing twice as much new business since switching. Watchdog cut its sales cycle from 60 days to 30, including enterprise deals. Emfas says Zero saves the team a full workday each week. File those three lines as Zero’s customer anecdotes. This desk did not interview the customers, count closed deals, or time a workweek.

Plain English for the rest of the card: CRM = customer relationship management software that stores sales and customer records. Seed = early venture funding. AI agents here = software that does admin and outreach-prep work automatically. Customer success = the team that helps a customer after they buy. Private beta = a limited try-out before the product is open to everyone.

PRIMARY here: Zero’s 15 Sep 2026 company blog — Tier A PRIMARY company source, the original record. Amount, lead, and co-investors are disclosed on-record by the company. The company site is product-home context, not a second originating newsroom. The $10.3 million seed, the Primary Venture Partners lead, Inception Fund / Defiant / Greens, the Lovable / Supercell / Langdock / Silo AI / Depict founder backers, Hedin / Paananen / Sarlin, the 20VC pre-seed lead / Hawkins / operator-fund line, the Finnish “one of the largest seed” claim, the public open / 14-day trial / AI-assisted migration, the prospecting / records / follow-ups / customer-health agent thesis with humans in control of outreach, the Riekki and Santtu founder lines, and the Teamspective / Watchdog / Emfas anecdotes are company-attributed. Customer outcome claims stay company-cited anecdotes — not independently verified here. NOT claimed: a valuation, a Series letter, ARR, revenue, headcount, independently verified customer results, that this desk tested Zero or saw a term sheet, a stock tip, or investment advice. Distinct from the already-filed factory-200m-5b-valuation, profound-180m-series-d, decimal-ai-4m-seed, jack-jill-40m-series-a, evvy-40m-series-b, aiuc-40m-series-a, branch-energy-33m-series-b, and salesforce-koa-nemotron.