The Next Phase of AI Infrastructure: Our Investment in Thread AI
October 1, 2024
We are excited to announce our investment in Thread AI, a company building the next phase of critical AI infrastructure. Today marks an exciting milestone as co-founders Angela McNeal and Mayada Gonimah unveil Lemma, their composable infrastructure platform that empowers companies to seamlessly design, implement, and manage AI-powered workflows on mission-critical paths.
The AI Infrastructure Dilemma
We believe the rapid evolution of AI has created a pressing need for robust infrastructure to support increasingly complex workflows. However, enterprises today face the challenge of navigating a fragmented landscape of AI tools, often managing more than 100 different software licenses, models, databases, ETL systems, and APIs across their organizations. This fragmentation could not only introduce inefficiencies and security vulnerabilities but could also slow down AI adoption by making integration across diverse systems a daunting task.
As a result, we have seen enterprises forced to choose between two suboptimal paths: either invest substantial time and resources to build complex AI workflows from scratch or settle for vertical applications often with limited scalability and flexibility. Thread AI offers a platform that seamlessly integrates these disparate systems into a cohesive workflow, enabling enterprises to fully leverage AI without the burden of infrastructure decisions.
Introducing Lemma
At the heart of Thread AI's offering is Lemma, a composable AI infrastructure platform that unlocks new opportunities for enterprises to build agentic workflows. Drawing inspiration from the mathematical concept of lemmas—proven propositions used as stepping stones to larger theorems—Lemma can provide enterprises with the building blocks to construct mission-critical, automated workflows that seamlessly integrate AI models, APIs, and applications.
Key features of Lemma include:
Unified Integration: A single platform that connects disparate AI tools and systems
Enhanced Security: Built-in safeguards that ensure data integrity and compliance
Full Observability: Real-time monitoring and analytics for all AI workflows
Scalable Architecture: Designed to grow with your enterprise's evolving AI needs
Early adopters, including industry leaders like VaynerMedia and BRINC Drones, are already reaping the benefits of Lemma's innovative approach. Lemma’s versatile offering covers a range of sectors from luxury hospitality to public safety and financial services.
The Team Behind Thread AI
We believe the strength of Thread AI lies not just in its technology, but in the exceptional team driving its vision. Co-founders Angela McNeal and Mayada Gonimah bring unique expertise from their experience at Palantir. When I met Angela back in 2021, it was clear she was a uniquely technical and commercial leader who was consistently executing on implementing AI systems at scale. When she described the problems that her and Mayada were looking to build when they left Palantir in 2023, we felt there was no better team to execute on this vision.
Angela McNeal, former Foundry Head of AI Product at Palantir, was instrumental in shaping Palantir's AI strategy. Her leadership resulted in AI product offerings that revolutionized decision-making processes across industries and government agencies, leveraging real, operational AI capabilities. Mayada Gonimah, who served as Foundry Head of AI/ML Engineering at Palantir, was the lead architect for complex infrastructure systems. Her talent for building and scaling high-performance engineering teams has been crucial in attracting top-tier talent to Thread AI.
In our view, this powerful combination of product vision and technical expertise positions Thread AI at the forefront of the AI infrastructure revolution. At Greycroft, we believe that Thread AI is poised to become a leader in the AI infrastructure space. The Lemma platform is not just a tool—it’s a foundational layer that can enable enterprises to harness the full power of AI in a secure and scalable way.
We are so excited to partner with Angela, Mayada, and the entire Thread AI team as they embark on this exciting journey, and we look forward to the impact we believe they will have on the AI landscape in the years to come.
Disclaimer: This publication was prepared solely for informational purposes and should not be viewed as a current or past recommendation or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any securities or to adopt any investment strategy. The information included herein is based on the opinions of the authors and nothing shall, or is intended to, constitute investment, financial, legal, accounting, or tax advice by the authors or Greycroft. This publication contains forward-looking statements, which are based on beliefs, assumptions and expectations that may change as a result of many possible events or other factors. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and undue reliance should not be placed thereon. The information in this document has been developed internally and/or obtained from sources believed to be reliable; however, Greycroft does not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such information. Greycroft does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date on which such statements were made. Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by Greycroft, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Greycroft is available at https://www.greycroft.com/investments/.
