Lithuanian AI startup Sintra today announced a $17 million seed funding, doubling its mission to empower AI helpers that can be used by small and medium-sized businesses.
Founded about a year ago, Sintra has grown from a weekend project to a $12 million ARR business serving more than 40,000 paying customers worldwide.
The company's platform provides small business owner AI-driven helpers that can handle core tasks such as social media, customer support and administrative tasks by integrating directly with tools such as Facebook, Gmail, and Google Calendar.
Learn more from CEO Chris Sidlauskas.
Unlike the others, the story of the founder
The team's talk began in 2018 at a garage in Villinias, Lithuania. There, Chris Sidrauska (16) and Locas Judicus (15) ran a marketing agency for local small and medium-sized businesses.
Although they had no prior experience, they helped entrepreneurs build websites, run social media, and run sales, design and business through hands-on work. Garages became a hub of young talent, many of whom later became technical and marketing experts.
A few years later, Sidlauskas built a successful e-commerce growth agency, expanded its US brand and generated more than $100 million in revenue for its clients. But by the age of 21 he left it all, sold stocks, bought a yellow van, and went searching for meaning throughout Europe.
The first idea of what would become Sintra came during that trip after I noticed an increase in demand for ChatGPT prompts in a small pit stop apartment in early 2023.
Sidlauskas and friends launched a concept-based product over the weekend. It went viral. Sales have been poured. Sintra was born.
The original team dealt with intense customer demand, doubled SMB's value proposition and reorganized it to rebuild its products from scratch. They tested the Sintra Helper, a set of 12 simple AI teammates, and the idea quickly resonated. Rokas has returned to lead the product design. Vasaris Kaveckas, a self-taught engineer who began coding games at the age of 15, joined Lead Development.
After months of work and a final sprint, Sintra 2.0 was released on May 15, 2024.
Sidrauska shared:
“We were running out of money and ideas. Traditional tools weren't exciting. Business owners didn't want another popular app.
Then we had this “silly idea.” If we started with characters, what about it rather than tools? We have created these cute specialist AI helpers with personality.
We didn't expect much, but people loved chatting with them rather than using the typical SaaS tools. ”
The team has combined the vector database “Brainy AI” layer to preserve the business context and launch the platform.
“We had about a month of runway left, the launch exploded, and people loved it.
We planned to test 12 agents in the hopes of users getting niche down. But 90% chose for them all. This focused on building an integrated “office” for SMB. ”
It turned into a virus launch. Within 57 days, the product reached $1 million with arr of $1 million, but has not slowed since.
Not just another software product, but also true intuitive help
Sintra's customers are mostly US-based small business owners, particularly in the services industry.
Often they are two or three solo operators or teams.
Sidlauskas states that while many AI startups sell themselves as staff replacements, “We don't want to replace people. We want to serve people who can't afford to hire real staff in the first place.”
“What small business owners need is more than just a software product, they need an assistant that provides real help, and they feel natural and intuitive.
We are building AI teammates that help people turn their work into theater. ”
Small businesses traditionally lack tools to scale successfully
SMEs account for 44% of global GDP, but more than 45 million people still operate without the right digital infrastructure.
Most people rely on spreadsheets, legacy software, or consumer apps that are inappropriate for their business needs. Sintra aims to change that by providing “AI Business in the Box.” This is a platform that small business owners can bring to their teams of AI helpers in minutes rather than months.
Each helper is powered by Brain AI, a secure, horizontally shared intelligence layer that learns the unique context of your business over time. From responding to messages to helping you generate and operate marketing content, Sintra helpers are designed to act like a teammate, not just a tool.
The company's most popular use case to date is social media through agent “Soci.”
Sidlauskas explains that Soci can access the context of a business, connect to social channels, and generate and schedule posts.
“She asks for review and approval when necessary. All interactions will be carried out through chat, inbox notifications and our contextual layer, Brain AI.”
Use is non-determined in AI-first products. People often explore unexpected paths. “That's why we focus on three core vectors”:
- Context – Know the most important information.
- Agent Tools – Provide agents with the ability to act in context.
- Simplification – Easy to use and dies.
I was curious about how the company stands out in busy spaces. Sidlauskas claims:
“We want to be close to our customers.
All content, websites, social media and inbound communications live in Sintra. The more context you have, the more you can serve them. There is a lot of hype in this area, but we are focused on building products that are truly useful. ”
Earlybird VC led the round with participation from Inovo, Practica Capital and the renowned Angel Investors.
“Sintra is building the most intense AI product team from Lithuania,” said Andre Labels, general partner at Early Bird.
“They take advantage of a market that is not receiving large-scale service, with a relentless product execution and a clear vision.”
Global impacts may begin in Lithuania garages
Sintra is proudly built in Lithuania. Lithuania is one of the oldest languages of life in the world and is a country of less than 3 million people with a history shaped by resilience. From a past characterized by occupation and exile, the Lithuanians inherited grit rather than the capital.
For the Sintra team, this mission is personal. It is to show that global impact can begin in the garage of Vilnius. It is about building something that continues not only for today, but for future generations.
Sidlauskas argues that the round is not just about fundraising.
“It's about showing that we can build globally relevant products from Lithuania. We've considered moving to San Francisco, but here in Europe there are so many talents and ambitions.
“When I first saw Sintra two months after the commercial launch, I thought it was another AI agent with traction from the charts. It was fun to spend the day with the Vilnius team. On this day we felt the Silicon Valley vibe and strength of Vilnius's modest apartment magically,” said Michal Rokosz, partner at Inovo.
Sintra is currently available via iOS and the web, with prices starting at $39 per month. The company uses the capital raised to expand its product and engineering team.
