Zurich-based startup says its AI agents write tests but don’t run them, and plans to take the platform to the US
Klarent, a Zurich-based autonomous software testing startup founded by former Google engineers, has raised $8 million in seed funding, according to an announcement dated 9 October 2026. Some reports put the round at €7.13 million, which appears to be the same raise in euros. The company, formerly known as fore ai, plans to use the money to expand into the United States after traction across Europe.
Who’s backing it
Investors include Mosaic Ventures, Moonfire Ventures, former Google director Jürgen Galler, Harris Barton and AngelInvest Ventures.
The founders and the problem
Klarent was founded in 2023 by Asheem Panakkat (CEO) and Momchil Ivanov (CTO), who worked on Google’s Lens and Shopping products. They saw a mismatch coming: as large language models get better at writing code, the volume of software being shipped would grow faster than human teams can test it. Panakkat says testing is shifting from a cost centre to what decides whether AI-written code can be trusted.
What’s different
Klarent’s agents use LLMs to author and adapt test code, while the tests themselves run deterministically. The company argues this keeps verification stable enough for production and avoids the cost and inconsistency of token-heavy, fully autonomous testing. The platform covers web, iOS and Android, and generates end-to-end tests from plain natural language and maintains them as products change.
Customers
Klarent’s European enterprise customers include JD Sports, Swiss media group NZZ and mobility company Sixt. At JD Sports, its agents automate multi-system workflows across the e-commerce pipeline, work the retailer said its own teams could not replicate.
What’s next
Besides entering the US, the company plans to grow its engineering team, broaden testing across web and mobile, and push into financial services, where a faulty release can be costly.