KineDB raises EUR €850K pre-seed to back offline database
KineDB, a Copenhagen database startup, has raised €850K in a pre-seed round led by Helsinki-based Superhero Capital. NGL Ventures also took part, along with angel investors including Cactos CTO Jussi Pyörre and Formalize co-CEOs Kristoffer Abell and Jakob Lilholm. The money will go mainly toward hiring engineers with experience in databases, storage and query engines.
The company was founded by Axel Löwenhoff and Allan Zimmermann, and is building a general-purpose database that runs on both cloud systems and local devices. Its first target is software that has to work offline, especially in sectors where staff lose network access but still need to record and use data. One example is a mine worker updating information on a tablet or smartphone with no internet connection, with the data synchronising once the device reconnects.
KineDB says many current setups use separate tools for offline data on devices and data in cloud back ends, which adds work for engineering teams. Its answer is a single database engine for both. Zimmermann spent two decades in cloud and hosting infrastructure and came to the problem after repeated trouble with existing database architecture while working on a serverless platform. Löwenhoff has more than ten years in software sales, including roles tied to UiPath, Grafana Labs and Lacework.
The company frames its pitch around the growth of AI-assisted software development. It cites Google DORA research showing 90 per cent of technology professionals use AI, and reports of a 55 per cent year-on-year rise in iOS app releases. The founders argue that many new creators haven't considered the databases their software depends on, and that teams will need simpler ways to manage data without assembling several systems.
Superhero Capital partner Gytenis Galkis pointed to the founders' backgrounds and the single-engine approach, calling offline apps a sharp entry point into a much bigger market. The longer-term aim is a general-purpose database across devices and cloud. The immediate test is whether adoption follows in sectors where applications cannot rely on a constant connection.