Velocity Raises $27 Million to Develop Growth Infrastructure for AI Applications

The artificial intelligence industry has spent the past several years racing to build more capable models and launch new applications. As those products reach larger audiences, however, another question is beginning to take center stage: how can AI companies continue to grow while managing the rising costs of serving users?

Velocity believes the answer lies in rethinking how AI applications generate revenue. The startup has raised $27 million in seed funding to build monetization and distribution infrastructure tailored for AI-native software. The financing was led by NFX and Red Dot Capital Partners, with additional backing from Stardom Ventures, Corner Ventures, and Transcend.

The company was founded by Tal Shoham, Amir Shaked, and Nimrod Zuta, whose backgrounds include leadership roles at ironSource and Unity, where they spent years building monetization and growth technologies for software developers.

From Building AI to Growing AI

The rapid expansion of generative AI has lowered the barriers to software creation, allowing developers to bring new products to market faster than ever. But while product development has become more accessible, business growth has become increasingly complicated.

Many AI companies support millions of users while shouldering growing inference costs. Although subscriptions have become the dominant revenue model, only a relatively small portion of users ultimately become paying customers.

The result has been a growing reliance on feature restrictions, usage caps, and subscription prompts that appear early in the customer journey.

Velocity argues that this approach may limit the very engagement that encourages users to become long-term customers. Instead, the company is building technology that enables applications to create an additional source of revenue through native advertising while allowing users to continue accessing free features.

Using the example of a photo-editing application, the company suggests that instead of limiting users to only one or two free AI-generated images, additional monetization could allow developers to offer significantly more free usage before requiring a subscription.

Advertising Designed for AI Conversations

Velocity's platform is centered on what it describes as real-time user intent.

Unlike traditional advertising platforms, which have historically depended on cookies and browsing history, conversational AI allows users to communicate exactly what they are trying to accomplish as they interact with an application.

Velocity says its technology analyzes multi-turn conversations, extracts structured intent, and incorporates relevant recommendations directly into the AI experience.

The platform consists of three primary components: an AI-native advertising network, a mediation and auction layer designed to optimize revenue across multiple demand sources, and a conversation intelligence layer that converts dialogue into privacy-safe intent signals.

Tal Shoham, the company's CEO and co-founder, believes this represents a broader shift in how software businesses will operate.

"AI is becoming the dominant interface for software, creating entirely new opportunities around monetization and distribution," Shoham said. "We believe the biggest opportunity of the AI era will not only be building products, but also monetizing and distributing them. We're building the infrastructure layer that helps solve both."

He added that monetization should complement, rather than disrupt, the user experience.

"AI monetization should feel native to the experience," Shoham said. "Users expect AI interactions to be useful, contextual, and trustworthy. Our goal is monetization, recommendations, and product discovery that enhance the experience rather than interrupt it."

Customers Highlight User Experience

Velocity says early customer deployments demonstrate that monetization can be introduced without reducing engagement or retention.

Leadtech / MAU is among the companies using the platform. Diego Díaz, CEO of the Subscription Division at Leadtech / MAU, said Velocity has been "responsive, collaborative, and moves quickly," adding that his team has been impressed by both the technology and the company's approach to partnership.

The startup also pointed to its work with consumer AI applications, including AIBY's Chaton.

Artsiom Turavets, Lead Product Manager at AIBY (Chaton), said the company has achieved "strong performance while maintaining a high-quality user experience," noting that monetization results have been accompanied by healthy engagement and retention metrics. He also credited Velocity's team for delivering tailored solutions and acting as "a true partner."

Investors Bet on Intent as the Next Platform Layer

The investment reflects a belief that AI-native software will require infrastructure different from previous generations of internet platforms.

Gigi Levy-Weiss, General Partner at NFX, said every major computing shift creates new infrastructure categories. He believes AI-native applications are becoming one of the largest technology platforms in history and said Velocity is building "the growth infrastructure layer that enables that intent to drive monetization, distribution, and growth."

Atad Peled, Partner at Red Dot Capital Partners, similarly described user intent as a major opportunity created by AI-native applications. He said the firm's investment is rooted in the founders' experience building and scaling global software platforms, combined with what he called their product vision and go-to-market expertise.

For Velocity, the company's long-term ambition extends beyond helping developers generate additional revenue. It sees intent becoming the defining signal for AI platforms, much as keywords shaped search engines and identity became central to social networks.

"Every major platform has been built around a dominant signal," Shoham said. "We believe the AI era will be built around intent, and we're building the growth infrastructure layer to monetize and distribute through it."