Maisa AI Raises $25M to Tackle the 95% Failure Rate in Enterprise AI Solutions

A startling 95% of generative AI projects within companies are failing, according to a recent report from MIT’s NANDA initiative. Nevertheless, rather than discarding the technology, top organizations are investigating agentic AI systems that can learn and receive supervision.

Introducing Maisa AI. This startup, just a year old, is centered around the belief that enterprise automation requires accountable AI agents instead of obscure black boxes. Following a fresh $25 million seed round led by European VC firm Creandum, it has launched Maisa Studio, a model-agnostic self-service platform that allows users to deploy digital workers trained via natural language.

While this may seem akin to vibe coding platforms like Cursor and the Creandum-backed Lovable, Maisa asserts that its approach is fundamentally different. “Rather than using AI to generate answers, we employ AI to build the processes necessary to obtain those answers — which we refer to as ‘chain-of-work’,” explained Maisa CEO David Villalón in a conversation with TechCrunch.

The mastermind behind this method is Maisa’s co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Manuel Romero, who previously joined forces with Villalón at the Spanish AI startup Clibrain. In 2024, they collaborated to create a solution for hallucinations after experiencing firsthand that “you couldn’t rely on AI,” stated Villalón.

Both founders are not skeptical of AI; rather, they believe it’s unrealistic for humans to analyze “three months of work done in five minutes.” To address this issue, Maisa employs a system named HALP, which stands for Human-Augmented LLM Processing. This customized approach functions like students at a blackboard, querying users about their needs while the digital workers map out the actions they will take.

The startup has also developed a Knowledge Processing Unit (KPU), a deterministic system designed to minimize hallucinations. Although Maisa originated from addressing this technical challenge, it quickly learned that its emphasis on reliability and accountability resonated with organizations looking to implement AI in crucial functions. Current clients utilizing Maisa’s services include a major bank and companies in the automotive and energy sectors.

By serving these enterprise clients, Maisa seeks to establish itself as a more advanced variant of robotic process automation (RPA) that boosts productivity without requiring companies to rely on rigid, predefined rules or extensive manual programming. To meet client needs, the startup provides both secure cloud deployment and on-premise solutions.

This enterprise-centric approach means that Maisa’s customer base is relatively small compared to the multitude flocking to freemium vibe-coding platforms. However, as these platforms seek ways to attract enterprise customers, Maisa is pursuing a different route with Maisa Studio, aimed at expanding its customer pipeline and facilitating adoption.

The startup also aims to grow alongside existing clients operating in multiple countries. With dual headquarters in Valencia and San Francisco, Maisa is making strides in the U.S., reflected in its investment structure; its $5 million pre-seed round last December was spearheaded by San Francisco-based venture firms NFX and Village Global.

Additionally, TechCrunch learned exclusively that U.S. firm Forgepoint Capital International participated in this latest funding round via its European joint venture with Spanish bank Banco Santander, highlighting its attractiveness for regulated sectors.

By targeting intricate use cases that require accountability from non-technical users, Maisa may gain a distinct advantage, competing against CrewAI and various other AI-driven business workflow automation tools. In a LinkedIn update, Villalón warned of the “AI framework gold rush,” noting that the “quick start” often leads to prolonged challenges when reliability, audit trails, or issue resolution become necessary.

Reiterating its dedication to scaling AI, Maisa plans to utilize its funding to expand its workforce from 35 to as many as 65 employees by the first quarter of 2026 to meet rising demand. Beginning in the last quarter of this year, the startup anticipates rapid growth as it begins serving its backlog of clients. “We are going to prove to the market that there is a company fulfilling its commitments, and it’s working,” Villalón affirmed.