Introducing Airweave: Bridging the Gap Between AI Agents and Real-World App Data
When we first met Lennert Jansen and Rauf Akdemir, it was clear they were exceptional. Their technical prowess, clarity in communication, relentless drive, and shared passion for building stood out. After a complex investment process with some twists and turns, we are thrilled to welcome Airweave to ASIF Ventures' portfolio.
From Neena to Airweave
Rauf and Lennert started with a bold mission: to make automation accessible to everyone through Neena, an intuitive web platform that allowed users to automate tasks between apps using just plain language. However, as they built deeper integrations, they encountered a problem many didn’t notice until they tried to scale. AI agents couldn’t easily understand or navigate the fragmented data scattered across apps, workflows, and databases. Rather than patching the issue, they zoomed in. That moment of focus became the seed for something bigger. What began as a supporting tool for Neena evolved into a standalone vision. That vision became Airweave, an open-source developer tool that lets AI agents search any app. Today, they’re not just solving a technical bottleneck but enabling the next generation of AI tools to work smarter with data, and in doing so, they have demonstrated that great founders don’t just build; they adapt.
With Airweave, Rauf and Lennert are tackling one of the biggest pain points in the AI development ecosystem: fragmented, inaccessible application data. Airweave is an open-source tool that allows developers to index and transform their app’s data into a format that AI agents can actually understand and use. By making application data semantically searchable and context-aware, Airweave enables LLM-powered agents to retrieve relevant information, like customer records, product details, or support tickets, across an entire stack of tools and databases, with minimal effort from the developer. It’s like giving AI agents their own memory architecture for complex, real-world software environments. What’s even more exciting is how they’re building it: fully transparent, open to feedback, and tightly connected with the developer community.
Their dedication and innovation led Airweave to be accepted into Y Combinator's X25 batch. Relocating to San Francisco, Rauf and Lennert are now immersed in an environment that fosters rapid growth and learning. Their journey from Amsterdam to the heart of Silicon Valley underscores their ambition and the global relevance of their solution. At YC, they’re refining the product through direct engagement with early adopters, shipping fast, learning even faster, and staying radically focused on real developer needs. In a time when AI hype often outpaces substance, Airweave is refreshingly grounded: an infrastructure layer that empowers others to build better, smarter tools. Watching these two founders navigate that journey with clarity, grit, and humility has been nothing short of inspiring.
Why We Invested
At ASIF Ventures, we seek founders who are not only technically adept but also resilient and visionary. Rauf and Lennert embody these qualities. Their ability to identify a critical need, pivot effectively, and build a solution with widespread applicability convinced us of their potential. Airweave addresses a pressing challenge in AI development, and we're excited to support their mission. We invite you to explore Airweave and witness how it's transforming the way AI agents interact with data. As they continue to innovate and grow, we're proud to be part of their journey.
Check out Airweave.
