Berlin Startup Tower Raises €5.5M to Build AI Data Engineering Platform for the “Last Mile”
Berlin’s AI infrastructure scene continues to gain momentum as local startup Tower announces a €5.5 million funding round to build what it calls the “last-mile platform” for data engineers in the age of AI. The round combines pre-seed and seed financing led by DIG Ventures and Speedinvest, with additional backing from Flyer One Ventures, Roosh Ventures, Celero Ventures, and Angel Invest.
The company is targeting a growing challenge inside modern AI development: moving from AI-generated code to systems that actually run in production. As AI coding assistants rapidly generate pipelines and applications, the operational layer — testing, debugging, deploying, and running those systems reliably — has become a bottleneck for many engineering teams.
Tower was founded in Berlin by Serhii Sokolenko and Brad Heller, two former engineers from Snowflake Inc. who previously worked on large-scale data infrastructure used by thousands of companies. The founders say their experience exposed a persistent gap in the tooling used by modern data teams: writing pipelines is increasingly automated, but operating them at scale remains difficult.
“It’s easier than ever to write functional code, but it’s still difficult… to test it, fix issues, deliver it to production, and operate it,” CTO Brad Heller told The Next Web. “That’s what we’re here to fix with Tower.”
The platform brings storage and compute into a single environment designed for both engineers and AI agents to collaborate. Built around the Apache Iceberg open table format, the system aims to give companies flexibility across modern data tools while maintaining control over their own datasets.
Tower’s approach also reflects a broader shift in AI development. Instead of relying on static internet training data, many companies now want AI systems that operate on fresh, internal company data. According to CEO Serhii Sokolenko, Tower is designed to turn AI-generated ideas into production systems powered by “information unique to each company instead of public and very dated internet archives,” he told Tech.eu.
Early traction suggests strong interest from developers. Since launching, the platform has reportedly executed more than 200,000 runs across over 30,000 applications, while its Python SDK has reached roughly 70,000 monthly downloads.
For Berlin’s tech ecosystem, the funding highlights a growing wave of startups building deeper layers of the AI stack — infrastructure, data platforms, and developer tools — rather than just applications. As the city continues attracting engineers and investors focused on AI, companies like Tower are positioning Berlin as a hub not just for AI ideas, but for the infrastructure powering them.