With AI and automated interventions, the Berlin startup Blocks wants to solve one of the biggest cost problems facing modern tech companies.
Flink founder Oliver Merkel apparently hasn’t built enough yet: After the delivery service, he is now tackling a problem that many startups prefer to ignore – their exploding cloud costs. Together with serial founder Andreas Schroeter, he founded the startup Blocks in Berlin.
Cloud infrastructure is now standard for software companies and at the same time one of the most difficult cost factors to keep under control. Expenses grow with usage and are only actively managed late in many companies. Often you just look at evaluations and dashboards, while the actual infrastructure runs silently, as if no one is watching it.
Read too
Automation instead of pure analysis
Blocks says it is taking a more operational approach. With the help of AI-supported processes and so-called agentic DevOps mechanisms, cloud infrastructure should be continuously optimized. It’s not just about recommendations, but about concrete adjustments during ongoing operations.
$6 million to build and early customers
For further development, Blocks has raised $6 million in a pre-seed round. The financing was led by VC Speedinvest. Caesar Ventures and several European founders from companies such as JustEatTakeaway, Flix and SellerX are also involved.
Blocks is primarily aimed at startups and growing technology companies that rely heavily on cloud infrastructure but do not have dedicated FinOps teams. In this target group, speed and product development are usually the focus, while cost optimization often only plays a role later.
Read too
According to the company, more than 50 companies in Europe are already using the platform. Access will be expanded in the coming months. In the long term, Blocks wants to position itself as an additional layer in the cloud stack, as a system that integrates cost management more automatically into existing infrastructure. It remains to be seen whether cloud bills can be reduced as quickly as new startups are founded.
