trail, a Munich-based startup, has raised a €1.45M pre-seed round for software that allows companies to automate governance workflows. The funding will be used to accelerate trail’s product development, expand its team, and strengthen its market position.

The funding will be used to accelerate trail’s product development, expand its team, and strengthen its market position.

The funding round is led by early-stage investor CapitalT, with participation from NP-Hard Ventures, Mozilla Ventures, Common Magic, and various business angels.

trail’s AI governance copilot addresses this urgent demand by providing a developer-friendly solution for scalable, trustworthy AI development. 

Companies that develop or deploy AI solutions use trail to automate governance workflows, technical documentation and transparency to prepare for the EU AI Act and certification like ISO 42001. To get started, trail offers a free self-assessment tool on their website that helps determine the risk class and obligations of the EU AI Act for any AI use case.

“We are in the perfect time and position to continue tackling this very important and rapidly growing market of AI governance. The mission of trail is to empower companies deeply committed to AI quality and trust, enabling responsible AI development and use without additional overhead”, says co-founder and CEO, Anna Spitznagel.

She and her co-founders Nikolaus Pinger and Sven Hölzel met during their studies at TU Munich and the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM). They experienced the bureaucratic challenges and a lack of transparency in AI firsthand, which led them to merge trust and efficiency in building trail, a platform for AI governance.

Eva de Mol, Founding Partner at CapitalT, comments: “We were impressed by the complementary strengths of the founders and their AI-driven approach to bridging technical and compliance challenges. We are convinced that trail is set out to lead this essential market.”

Mohamed Nanabhay, Managing Partner of Mozilla Ventures, adds: “At Mozilla Ventures, we have always championed trustworthy AI. The team at trail shares our vision and we are proud to support them. Their developer-first approach to AI compliance will make them an integral tool for companies seeking efficient AI governance.”

The fresh capital will be instrumental in accelerating trail’s product development, expanding its talented team, and strengthening its market position as the go-to solution for AI governance in Europe.