Our story
Blits.ai started from one belief: big companies need AI that holds up in production. We have been building that since 2018.
Millions spent, little to show for it
In 2018 Len Debets worked at a global consulting firm. He saw large companies spend millions on chatbots and end up disappointed. The bots promised a lot and did little, and the systems were too rigid to change when the business did.
Len also saw where it could go. While trying out IBM Watson's API, he became convinced that people would soon stop clicking through screens and simply talk to their computers instead.
"We're going to talk to our computers, not just click through menus."
That idea became Blits.ai, a platform where large companies stay in control of their conversational AI and can keep changing it until it does what they need.
2018
Where it started, with the first IBM Watson experiments
The partnership
An engineer and a business strategist
Two founders, one goal
Then Paul Coerkamp came on board. Paul is a business strategist who is good at spotting where a market is heading, and he saw what Len saw. Len brought the technology, Paul the business side.
While still at the consulting firm, they started building what would become Blits.ai. There were a lot of late nights and a lot of experiments, and neither of them doubted the idea.
They aimed high. They wanted to put Blits.ai on the international map and show that large organizations could use conversational AI for real, everyday work.
Going all in
The prototype worked and large companies took notice. When the first customers signed, years of work and many rebuilds paid off.
Len and Paul decided the company needed them full time. In 2020 they took the step and Blits.ai became a 100% independent startup.
Starting a company from nothing is hard. Each client project taught them something, and each go live at a big bank or international corporation showed them a bit more of what enterprise grade really asks of you.
"From day one, Blits.ai was built for enterprise: security, scale, and functionality aren't afterthoughts, they're foundational." (Len Debets, CTO & cofounder)
2020
Blits.ai goes independent
Built under pressure
It never went in a straight line, and most setbacks ended up improving the platform.
Test & learn
We learned from each client. We tested a lot, looked hard at what failed and kept changing things until they worked. Most of that feedback came from companies in heavily regulated industries.
The Corona challenge
2020 was hard on everyone. Once people had to work from home, demand for digital channels shot up. We adjusted quickly, and customers began to treat conversational AI as basic infrastructure instead of an extra.
Finding our edge
Over time we saw what we did better than most. We know the technology well, and we also know how large companies decide and run projects, so what we build gets used and pays off.
Early to large language models
By the time ChatGPT came out in 2022, we had been putting large language models into enterprise projects for almost three years.
Hands on enterprise AI since 2018
Implementing LLMs for customers before OpenAI went mainstream
Years of hands on work with RAG, function calling and enterprise grade AI architecture
In production at major banks and international corporations
ISO 27001, ISO 42001, SOC 2 Type II and PCI DSS Level 1 certified, GDPR compliant
Started implementing LLMs
ChatGPT launches
Built in Amsterdam, running on four continents
The team grew along with the platform. What started as a handful of founders is now a company with specialists in engineering, in product and in customer success.
Today Blits.ai runs mission critical conversational AI for companies on four continents, in financial services, telecom, the public sector and other industries.
We started with experiments inside a consulting firm. Now we present on stages like Web Summit Lisbon, next to the biggest technology companies in the world.
"Scaling means more users and more models, but above all a resilient company that can support customers worldwide, 24/7." (Paul Coerkamp, CEO & cofounder)
Scaling globally
From Amsterdam to enterprises across 4 continents
Meet the founders
The two people who started Blits.ai, and still lead it
Len designed the technology behind Blits.ai. He has more than ten years of experience in AI and software engineering, and he saw what conversational AI could do before it went mainstream.
As CTO he built the Blits.ai platform from scratch, starting from what enterprises require. What he knows about machine learning, NLU and AI security played a big part in winning partnerships with large financial institutions and international corporations.
"Building enterprise AI takes technical skill, but you also have to understand business strategy and how customers behave."
Expertise:
Paul sets the strategy at Blits.ai. He comes from management consulting and enterprise sales, so he knows what large organizations need before AI works for them.
As CEO he built our relationships with major clients, raised funding and put Blits.ai among the leaders in enterprise conversational AI. He can explain complex technology in terms of what it is worth to a business, and much of our growth comes from that.
"It's not the best technology that sets you apart, that's hygiene. What matters is knowing how to apply AI effectively in an enterprise environment."
Expertise:
Where Blits.ai stands today
The enterprise AI platform built for production, and the team that delivers on it, used by enterprises around the world
Years of enterprise AI
Agents & bots deployed
Continents active
Enterprise support
What you get today
Technology
The enterprise AI platform built for production. You choose the model, including the newest LLMs, and security is part of the base
Professional services
The Blits.ai team refines the use case with you in a workshop, builds and integrates it, deploys it where you want it and runs it for as long as it is live, with enterprise AI experience going back to 2018
Support
Support in your time zone, 24/7 with the Gold support level, with SLA commitments, ongoing tuning and a dedicated success manager on Enterprise
Our mission & vision
Our mission
We want enterprises to run conversational AI that keeps working in production. We pair current technology with what we know about their industry, so the money they spend comes back.
Our vision
We picture enterprises using conversational AI in the way they serve customers, help staff and handle data, with AI that people can get to easily, that is secure, and that is worth its cost.
Write the next chapter with us.