The former Agentforce team has secured $5.1 million for their 'anti-vendor' AI.

      A London-based startup named Zaro has emerged from stealth mode, having secured a $5.1 million pre-seed investment round led by Cherry Ventures. Zaro aims to develop a single AI workspace that is owned by the company itself, rather than by its software suppliers.

      **Who is supporting Zaro?**

      The list of investors is quite notable for an early-stage round. Thomas Wolf, co-founder of Hugging Face, and GitHub chief Thomas Dohmke are among the contributors. Additionally, investor Charlie Songhurst, Mandeep Singh from Trouva, and Convergence co-founders Marvin Purtorab and Andy Toulis have also invested.

      Cherry Ventures decided to back Zaro even before it had a product available. The firm showcased Zaro during its London summit on Tuesday.

      **From Agentforce to a competitor**

      Out of Zaro’s eight employees, five previously developed AI agents at Convergence, which was acquired by Salesforce after just 11 months. The team subsequently played a key role in launching Agentforce, Salesforce’s main AI agent offering.

      CEO Michael Bajwa was the first hire at Convergence, where he claims to have grown annual recurring revenue from zero to £1 million in just ten weeks.

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      **What Zaro is creating**

      Zaro intends to streamline numerous AI tools into a single workspace where agents utilize a shared context layer. This foundational context will drive personalized applications based on a company's unique data and decisions.

      The key selling point is ownership, as companies retain their context and can transfer it if needed. Zaro also directs routine tasks to more cost-effective models, claiming this approach can reduce expenses by approximately ten times compared to setups reliant solely on cutting-edge models.

      Zaro reportedly manages its own HR, finance, and facilities through its platform and includes an app store filled with pre-built workflows.

      “Context accumulates,” states co-founder and CTO Qian Zheng. “Models become commoditized, but the platform does not.”

      **Why it matters now**

      Zaro enters the current tense enterprise software landscape, where buyers are questioning the sustainability of per-seat SaaS in the age of AI agents. Major players like Salesforce and SAP are quickly adding agent features to their software suites.

      Zaro also joins other startups like the UK's Deliverance AI, which promote the idea that companies, not vendors, should own and control their AI solutions.

      **The challenges ahead**

      Some claims made by Zaro require further validation. The startup only has eight employees and has recently gone public, meaning its cost and contextual assertions are based on its own assessments.

      Additionally, one aspect needs clarification. The team contributed to Agentforce after its acquisition rather than solely developing it. While Zaro refers to Agentforce as a $1.2 billion ARR product, Salesforce's own data and previous reports indicate a figure closer to $800 million.

      The fundamental concept is straightforward: a company should retain the AI context it generates. However, whether Zaro can achieve this before larger competitors replicate its model remains an open question.