hessian.AI Alumni Tentris Raises €2M to Solve Enterprise Knowledge That Can’t Be Queried
Tentris, a deep-tech startup founded on more than eight years of research at Paderborn University is building a next-generation graph database for enterprise and mid-cap AI. Today it announces a €2 million in financing, consisting of a €925,000 pre-seed round led by Bloomhaus Ventures, with participation from Vanagon Ventures, āltitude, 10x Value Partners, and business angel Pascal Wichmann, alongside €1 million in public innovation funding (EXIST Transfer of Research) from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany.
As organisations accelerate AI adoption, a fundamental challenge is becoming increasingly clear: AI systems are only as powerful as the infrastructure that provides access to connected, contextualised, and trustworthy data. Tentris is building the foundation to solve this challenge.
Knowledge graphs are increasingly becoming a critical component of an organisation’s AI systems, powering applications such as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), AI agents, semantic search, and enterprise knowledge management. As organisations seek to make AI more accurate, explainable, and reliable, the ability to efficiently manage and analyse highly connected data is becoming increasingly important.
Tentris has developed a fundamentally new graph database architecture designed to enable real-time analytics on highly connected enterprise data. The company reports up to 150x faster query execution and up to 1,000x lower RAM consumption compared to conventional graph database approaches, enabling complex graph analyses that were previously too slow, costly, or computationally infeasible. This capability is already being evaluated by Fortune 500 technology companies that have reached the physical limits of legacy graph database architectures.
At the core of the platform is TentrisDB, a high-performance, disk-based RDF graph database built on a compressed Hypertrie index and worst-case optimal multi-way joins. Unlike traditional graph databases that often struggle with analytical workloads, memory limitations, and infrastructure costs, Tentris is engineered to deliver scalable graph analytics at a fraction of the computational cost.
“Our mission is to build the trusted graph database for the next generation of Enterprise AI,” said Alexander Bigerl, CEO of Tentris. “Knowledge graphs provide the context AI needs, but today’s graph databases struggle to keep up as data grows. Tentris removes the memory and performance bottlenecks, making real-time graph analytics economically viable for enterprise-scale AI.”
The newly secured capital will be used to further develop TentrisDB, expand the engineering and commercial teams, and accelerate market adoption. The company has already secured its first enterprise customers and is working with a growing pipeline of mid-cap organisations evaluating the technology.
“Tentris combines breakthrough graph database technology with a market poised for exponential growth, driven by the adoption of Enterprise AI and the increasing need for structured, explainable data infrastructure,” said Tim Schwichtenberg, Senior Investment Manager at Bloomhaus Ventures. “Built on years of world-class research and protected by a deep technical moat, Tentris has already demonstrated strong performance advantages and early enterprise demand, positioning it to become a foundational layer for enterprise AI applications.”
“Knowledge graphs are becoming critical infrastructure for Europe’s organisations as they race to adopt AI and contextualise their data. The question is whether Europe builds that layer or imports it. Tentris, built on years of research with an architecture that makes real-time graph analytics economically viable for the first time is the answer,” said, Videesha Boeckle, General Partner, āltitude.
“Today’s LLMs fabricate facts, can’t show their reasoning, and lack a structured memory. As AI moves from chatbots toward world models, correctness becomes critical. Built on mathematical breakthroughs from years of research, Tentris breaks the RAM-cost barrier that made graph-powered AI unaffordable at scale,” said Susanne Fromm, General Partner at Vanagon. “By giving foundation models a deterministic ‘brain’ that retrieves and reasons over trillions of interconnected facts, with every result traceable and verifiable, Tentris lays the foundation for World Models and Enterprise AI that are transparent, auditable, and trustworthy.”
With its novel database architecture and growing enterprise adoption, Tentris is redefining what organizations can expect from graph databases in the age of AI. The industry’s recognition is already following: Tentris recently won first place at the global Knowledge Graph Conference in New York, where its technology was recognized by leading experts in the field.
hessian.AI | AI Startup Rising warmly congratulates Tentris on securing this significant investment and looks forward to following the company’s continued growth. As an alumnus of the Incubator Ignition program, Tentris exemplifies how outstanding research and entrepreneurial ambition can translate into successful deep-tech ventures
Contact:
Tobias Rebert
Co-Founder Tentris
About Tentris
Tentris is a Bielefeld-based deep-tech company building the data infrastructure for the next generation of enterprise AI. Founded in 2024 as a spinout from Paderborn University by Alexander Bigerl, Tobias Rebert, Nikolaos Karalis, and Prof. Dr. Axel-Cyrille Ngonga Ngomo, Tentris develops high-performance graph database technology with the ambition to build a category-defining database company from Europe. More information: www.tentris.io
About Bloomhaus Ventures
Bloomhaus is a Swiss venture capital firm dedicated to supporting groundbreaking tech startups in Central Europe, helping them thrive on a global scale and create a more sustainable future. With experience as entrepreneurs, technologists, and investors, Bloomhaus empowers pioneers and connects them with the resources needed for long-term success. More information: www.bloomhaus.vc
About Vanagon
Vanagon is a Munich-based venture capital firm, purpose-built for deep tech teams from pre-seed. The mission: to invest in the most groundbreaking deep tech companies of the next decade that use the European advantage to scale globally. The alpha strategy: moving teams up the curve through a close partner network of allied founders, corporates and co-investors. More information: www.vanagon.vc
About āltitude
āltitude is Europe’s SME Tech Fund, a venture capital firm investing early stage in B2B software companies enabling the small and medium-sized businesses that form the backbone of the global economy. Often the first institutional cheque, āltitude partners with exceptional founders in underserved markets before consensus forms. More information: www.altitude-vc.com
About 10x Value Partners
10x Value Partners is a discretionary investment firm founded and owned by serial entrepreneur and investor Christian Schroeder, focused on early-stage investments in category defining technology businesses. The firm is highly entrepreneurial in nature, supporting founders with 360 degrees support around go-to-market, partnerships, hiring and general strategy. More information: www.10xvaluepartners.com
About Pascal Wichmann
Pascal Wichmann, who holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of Cambridge, is a serial entrepreneur, active business angel, and passionate believer in the potential of LLM-based knowledge engineering to shape the future of AI.
