Geniez AI, a company pioneering the connection between legacy mainframe systems and AI, has announced the closing of a $6 million seed funding round. The round was co-led by StageOne Ventures and Canapi Ventures, marking a significant step forward in Geniez AI’s mission to modernize enterprise infrastructure without the need for costly migration or disruptive overhauls.
At the heart of Geniez AI’s innovation is a framework that enables real-time connectivity between Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI agents with mainframe data sources. This breakthrough allows for businesses to leverage the vast stores of mission-critical data stored in their legacy systems and apply advanced AI-driven analysis, automation, and decision-making in industries such as finance, insurance, healthcare, retail, and government—where mainframes continue to power core operations. Geniez AI provides a means to bring these systems into the future while maintaining their reliability and scalability.
The Geniez AI platform runs natively on the mainframe and leverages open GenAI protocols such as the Model Content Protocol (MCP). It provides seamless, real-time access to data for AI agents operating either on-premises or in the cloud, including popular models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Meta’s Llama. This architecture enables enterprises to build intelligent workflows and applications that interact directly with their most valuable data assets, without compromising performance or security.
By solving the long-standing challenge of integrating modern AI tools with legacy infrastructure, Geniez AI is helping organizations unlock new capabilities—from personalized customer experiences to predictive analytics and operational optimization. The platform’s ability to deliver these outcomes without requiring data migration or extensive modernization makes it especially attractive to large enterprises seeking agility without risk.
With the new funding, Geniez AI plans to expand its engineering and go-to-market teams, strengthen its partnerships across the enterprise technology ecosystem, and deepen integration with leading GenAI platforms. The company is focused on building a future where AI agents can operate seamlessly across all layers of enterprise infrastructure, and where legacy systems are no longer barriers to innovation but active participants in it.
As generative AI continues to reshape how businesses operate, Geniez AI is carving out a critical role—connecting the past with the future, and making sure that the systems enterprises have relied on for decades can now power the intelligent applications of tomorrow.
KEY QUOTES:
“Mainframes are at the heart of the global economy, holding the most up to date transaction data as well as decades of historical data which are extremely valuable for AI. We’re giving enterprises the best of both worlds: the power and trust of the mainframe with the innovation and velocity of the AI ecosystem.”
Gil Peleg, Co-founder and CEO of Geniez AI
“AI is no longer a luxury for financial institutions and with most banks running on mainframes, Geniez AI is tackling a pain point that will unlock major value for them.”
Neil Underwood, Co-founder and General Partner at Canapi Ventures
“The Geniez AI team has a proven track record of innovation in the mainframe space, previously founding Model9 (acquired by BMC Software in May 2023) and we’re excited to partner with them again.”
Yuval Cohen, Founder and Managing Partner at StageOne Ventures
