Nexos.ai, a new AI orchestration startup founded by Tomas Okmanas and Eimantas Sabaliauskas, the creators of Lithuanian unicorn Nord Security, has emerged from stealth mode with $8 million in funding from prominent investors, including Index Ventures, Creandum, and Dig Ventures. The startup aims to simplify the deployment of AI projects for enterprises, particularly focusing on large language models (LLMs).

The founders of Nord Security, best known for its flagship VPN product NordVPN, have leveraged their experience in building a recognizable brand in Europe to create Nexos.ai. Nord Security bootstrapped its way through its first 10 years before receiving a $100 million investment in 2022 at a $1.6 billion valuation. Index Ventures' partner Hannah Seal expressed enthusiasm about investing in Nexos.ai, citing the founders' track record and the company's potential in the AI space.

Nexos.ai addresses a significant gap in the AI industry, where teams struggle to connect various tools and recruit skilled teams to put AI projects into production. The startup's platform offers a simple API, providing customers with access to over 200 AI models from prominent providers like OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as smaller, niche LLMs. This allows companies to seamlessly switch between providers in case of outages or cost concerns, ensuring high availability and security.

The idea for Nexos.ai was catalyzed by Okmanas' experience as a board member and shareholder of web-hosting firm Hostinger, which recently integrated AI-enabled smarts into its website building tool. However, the company encountered issues with visibility, security, and cost management when deploying AI models. Okmanas realized the need for a solution that could simplify AI deployment and management for enterprises.

Nexos.ai's platform introduces "intelligent caching," which reduces costs by turning to its own database for repeated user queries instead of engaging LLM providers. The startup also prioritizes security and compliance, preventing individuals from sending private data to LLM providers and enabling immediate access termination for former employees. While data security concerns remain a significant hurdle for enterprises adopting AI, Nexos.ai plans to offer self-hosting options in the future and already supports integrations with companies' internal LLMs.

The speed of Nexos.ai's funding and development was facilitated by the founders' reputation and the broader organizational setup at Tesonet, an incubator with a portfolio of over two dozen businesses. Okmanas was able to assemble a team of around 30 trusted individuals to work on Nexos.ai full-time, with plans to hire more talent from outside the organization.

Nexos.ai's platform is set to launch by the end of March, with the company already working with beta customers and design partners. As the AI industry moves beyond the hype phase and into real-world applications, Nexos.ai is poised to play a significant role in helping enterprises adopt AI at scale.