SG firm aspires to be Stripe of AI services

JigsawStack, a Singapore-based startup offering AI services via a single API, has raised US$500,000 in a pre-seed round from VC firm Antler, both companies confirmed to Tech in Asia.

APIs are essential to the internet, enabling web developers to integrate services like Google Search or PayPal into their websites. However, configuring APIs can be complex, with each service often requiring a unique setup.

Yoeven Khemlani, co-founder and CEO or JigsawStack / Photo Credit: JigsawStack

Engineers spend up to 80% of their time managing APIs instead of building core products, according to Yoeven D Khemlani, co-founder and CEO of JigsawStack. The startup, which was launched in January, aims to change this. It developed a solution that consolidates multiple APIs into a single link or URL, eliminating the need for extra coding and therefore saving developers time.

“So instead of rewriting 100 lines of code every day, you just write one line of code that basically automates that process only for you,” said Khemlani, who has a background in game development and corporate banking. Developers can monitor and test these APIs through JigsawStack’s interface.

The company also offers AI capabilities through its APIs. Developers can easily integrate tools for web scraping, translation, and even optical character recognition (OCR), which allows a computer to read a printed document.

JigsawStack’s AI-enhanced services leverage open-source technology to increase structured data and generative AI features. For example, the startup’s AI OCR model can extract data from documents like passports. This solution bypasses the need for specialized APIs that can cost up to US$5,000 per month per country.

“Our OCR model uses machine learning to identify relevant data within images and maps it out for the user,” Khemlani said. It then returns the extracted information in a structured format.

Growing the team and future plans

JigsawStack is collaborating with other AI developers to optimize and test its APIs. Khemlani shared that the company has partnered with genAI chatbot Grok, which offered the startup AI cloud services to test and improve its API speed.

“So you will see our performance shooting up significantly in the next few months because of this partnership,” he said.

Currently, about 3,500 developers use JigsawStack’s APIs, and its platform handles over 5 million API requests per month.

The pre-seed funding will help the startup build a stronger team, according to Khemlani. It currently operates with a three-person team composed of Khemlani, engineer Narcisse Egonu, and developer relations lead Angel Pichardo.

Jussi Salovaara, co-founder of Antler, told Tech in Asia in an email interview that JigsawStack is solving foundational challenges in AI, and he sees potential for the startup to drive AI development forward.

Developing AI with an eye on the Big 3

Khemlani revealed that JigsawStack plans to raise more funds within the next six to eight months. The company aims to scale rapidly, focusing on research and AI model expansion to stay ahead of its competitors, which include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and Google.