Restate Raises $20m to Keep AI Agents Running When Software Fails
Replit already runs its coding agent on the Berlin startup’s software. The money will help it take on Temporal, which raised $550m at a $12.55bn valuation in September.
Restate, a Berlin Startup Founded by Apache Flink Creators
Restate, founded by the creators of Apache Flink, has raised a $20 million Series A. Its total funding is now $27 million.
Stephan Ewen, CEO of Restate, told TechCrunch that "it never was built for agents in the beginning, but it just happened to be a perfect match for all these problems that agents surface."
What Durable Execution Does
Restate sells durable execution, recording what a program has already done to allow it to continue correctly after crashes, restarts, or dropped connections. AI agents make this more complex as they run for longer and interact with various models, tools, APIs, and other agents.
Restate uses its own distributed log as the base for execution, state, and communication. It recently launched Bring Your Own Cloud, running a managed version inside a customer’s cloud account.
Hundreds of companies use Restate, including DOSS, Bilt Rewards, and Fortune 500 firms. Replit moved its Replit Agent onto Restate, utilizing over 10 times as many durable actions.
Up Against Temporal
Restate has secured several significant customer contracts recently while competing with Temporal, the field leader. Temporal raised a $550 million Series E at a $12.55 billion valuation in September.
Ewen, co-creator of Apache Flink and former CTO of Data Artisans (acquired by Alibaba), founded Restate in 2022 with colleagues Igal Shilman and Till Rohrmann. Ahmed Farghal, a former Stripe and Meta engineer, joined as the fourth co-founder with the Series A.
Restate's Plans for Funding
The startup will use the funds to hire a go-to-market team and more engineers, as well as open a commercial hub in San Francisco.
Story by Cristian Dina, CRO at The Next Web.