AI code cleanup startup Grit raises $7M to automate software maintenance and tackle technical debt

The AI frenzy that started late last year with the launch of ChatGPT rages on with no signs of slowdown as investors continue to pour billions of dollars into generative AI startups.

During the first half of this year, AI startups managed to secure an impressive $25 billion in funding, contributing a substantial portion to the overall global funding for that timeframe. The newest player to join the AI funding boom is Grit, the New York City-based AI code cleanup startup that automates code maintenance tasks for companies.

On Tuesday, Grit announced it had raised  $7 million in a seed funding round led by Founders Fund and Abstract Ventures, with participation from Quiet Capital, 8VC, A* Capital, AME Cloud Ventures, SV Angel, Operator Partners, CoFound Partners, and Uncorrelated Ventures.

Over the years, businesses and corporations have found that traditional software development methods aren’t suitable for updating and managing growing systems. Existing tools treat code as valuable and delicate, making it difficult, slow, and tedious to refactor extensive codebases. This has led to significant technical debt for many companies. Additionally, generative AI is reducing the cost of each code line, increasing the workload for engineers to maintain larger codebases and strain modernization efforts.

In addition, software firms often struggle to adapt code for new software versions, a manual task that consumes months. That’s why Grit has made its mission to AI automate code maintenance and drastically cut time and effort. The company even asserts it compressed a software project timeline from six months to just a week with its solution.

Commenting on the funding, Bhaskar Ghosh, Partner and CTO at 8VC said: “The frantic pace of software development over the last decade has created huge amounts of technical debt but Grit has the team, product, and vision to fix it. Grit’s combination of machine learning and static analysis is going to be the backbone for a new generation of software development.”

Thanks to the fresh funding injection, Grit has transitioned from a private beta phase to a public beta stage, granting access to a broader range of users for its AI-driven product. The startup’s mission is to transform software maintenance, introducing a pioneering solution that simplifies the process for businesses of all scales.

In a statement, Founders Fund investor John Luttig told Reuters: “Being able to understand and maintain a code base on autopilot saves a lot of time and money. Companies can now reallocate existing headcount to work on higher leverage problems.”

In just a few years after its launch, Grit now boasts big customers ranging from small startups to publicly traded companies.