Riff’s $16M Series A Fuels Mission to Bridge AI’s Enterprise Value Gap

Norwegian Startup Secures Major Backing to Scale Vibe Coding Platform

Oslo-based Riff, the vibe coding platform previously known as Databutton, has successfully closed a $16 million Series A funding round. The investment was spearheaded by Northzone, with participation from Norwegian venture firms Skyfall Ventures and Sondo Capital, Finnish investor Maki.vc, Berlin’s Global Founders Capital, and Illusian, the family office of Supercell founder Ilkka Paananen. This latest injection brings Riff’s total funding to $21 million, positioning the company for accelerated growth as it launches its comprehensive AI product suite.

Solving AI’s Enterprise Adoption Challenge

The funding announcement coincides with Riff’s full product suite launch, coming at a critical moment for enterprise AI adoption. Despite widespread enthusiasm for artificial intelligence integration, a recent MIT report reveals that 95% of corporate AI initiatives fail to deliver meaningful value. Riff aims to address this disconnect by providing companies with tools to rapidly deploy AI applications, automations, and agents that integrate seamlessly with existing technology stacks.

“The explosion in vibe coding has largely been driven by individuals realizing they can finally launch startups,” says CEO and cofounder Trygve Karper. “While that’s positive, our focus is different. We’re channeling that same energy and results into enterprise settings, enabling companies to build capabilities internally. The value creation potential here is enormous.”

From Unicorn Experience to Solving Implementation Failures

Riff’s founding team brings unique credibility to the challenge of enterprise digital transformation. Karper co-founded the company in 2021 with Martin Røed and Viral Shah, all veterans of engineering and product teams at Cognite, Norway’s first unicorn. This background provided firsthand exposure to the pitfalls of large-scale digitalization programs.

“At Cognite, I built all the AI, data science and machine learning capabilities,” Karper explains. “We worked within massive corporations, observing how to participate in major digitalization initiatives, and we witnessed frequent failure—top-down approaches typically produce that outcome.”

Enterprise-Grade Vibe Coding Platform

Riff’s approach combines the accessibility of vibe coding—which enables non-programmers to create, launch, and maintain applications—with enterprise-level support and security. The platform now serves approximately 150,000 users, including their former employer Cognite among business clients., according to emerging trends

The company maintains close customer relationships, offering comprehensive training programs covering platform usage, security protocols, and practical templates. “It’s very easy to get started and deliver value immediately,” Karper notes. “We want to empower organizations to implement solutions effectively in practice.”

Impressive Traction Across Industries

Riff has demonstrated strong adoption across multiple sectors, including financial services, logistics, healthcare, manufacturing, and consumer goods. Business customers constitute 40% of their user base, and Karper indicates that retention metrics surpass those of competitors., according to expert analysis

“We see that business customers are very sticky, and we maintain excellent retention in that segment,” he says. The company’s overall customer retention has stabilized at 51% after three months—a notable achievement given the high proportion of curiosity-driven sign-ups common in AI platforms.

Building Pathways to Customer Success

Riff attributes its retention success to a dedicated focus on ensuring customer outcomes. “There’s always a clear path to success for our customers,” Karper emphasizes. “That’s why we’ve established a services division in Singapore, for instance. We cultivate very personal relationships with customers from their initial engagement.”, as additional insights

With the launch of their new product suite, Riff anticipates even stronger performance. “Retention for the new offering is still unknown,” Karper acknowledges, “but we have compelling reasons to believe it will exceed our current metrics.”

The company’s progress signals a maturation of the vibe coding movement from individual experimentation to substantive enterprise transformation, potentially bridging the gap between AI ambition and real-world business value.

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