Dify, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based provider of an open source platform that helps teams build, deploy, and operate production-grade AI applications and agent workflows, announced it has raised $30 million in Series Pre-A funding at a valuation of $180 million. The round was led by HSG with participation from GL Ventures, Alt-Alpha Capital, a new spinout from Bessemer Venture Partners, 5Y Capital, Mizuho Leaguer Investment, and NYX Ventures.
Founded by CEO Luyu Zhang, Dify provides a platform layer that enables organizations to build and operate domain-specific AI workflows across real-world business systems. The company offers a visual workflow builder combined with operational infrastructure including prompt management, tool integration, knowledge search, debugging capabilities, and API deployment.
The platform sits between foundational models and enterprise systems, allowing teams to move from experimentation to production deployment while maintaining operational visibility and management control. Organizations use Dify to create workflows such as document review pipelines, internal co-pilots based on company knowledge, customer support automation with escalation paths, and operational tasks such as invoice audits and correspondence generation.
Since its launch in 2023, Dify has grown into a widely adopted platform for agent workflow development. The company says its open source projects rank among the most starred repositories on GitHub, running on more than 1.4 million machines around the world. More than 2,000 teams and 280 companies are building commercial versions of the platform, including organizations like Maersk, ETS, Anker Innovations, and Novartis.
Dify plans to use the funding to accelerate its 2026 roadmap, including integrating advanced agent capabilities into its core product experience, building a dedicated enterprise product team focused on performance and compliance, launching new initiatives for the builder community, and delivering product updates aimed at lowering barriers to adoption.
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“AI is moving from demo to production systems, and teams need an infrastructure they can operate with confidence. We built Dify so teams can turn their domain knowledge and workflows into production-grade AI applications without having to rebuild the stack every time. This funding accelerates our efforts to make agent workflows more reliable, more observable, and easier for organizations to deploy at scale.”
Luyu Zhang, Founder and CEO of Dify
“Dify gave us a practical way to move beyond prototypes and put our AI workflows into production. We were able to turn real business processes into maintainable systems without having to rebuild the infrastructure each time.”
Mark Sear, Director of Maersk AI Solutions Engineering
“We believe that the AI application layer is in its infancy, but accelerating. Platforms that standardize AI development workflows are more likely to capture lasting value. We look forward to supporting Dify as they scale their platform and grow their ecosystem.”
Kui Zhou, HSG Partner
