SAN JOSE, Calif. and DENVER, Co. — June 12, 2024 – Iterate.ai, recently named one of the 20 Hottest AI Software Companies by CRN, has announced $6.4 million in funding led by Auxier Asset Management and with participation from Peter Cobb, Mike Edwards, and Dave Zentmyer. All four are former eBags board members.
Jeff Auxier, founder of Auxier Asset Management, was a longtime board member at eBags, where he worked closely with Iterate.ai CEO Jon Nordmark. He’s joined by other eBags board veterans including Cobb (co-founder of eBags and Designer Brands (DSW) board director), Edwards (a seasoned retail executive and four-time CEO, including at eBags), and Zentmyer, former SVP of Lands’ End. Their collective involvement signals a powerful vote of confidence in Iterate’s AI growth journey as it expands distribution channels and introduces its key productivity solution, Generate Enterprise.
The investors’ decision to collaborate once again with Nordmark and his CDTO/co-founder Brian Sathianathan reflects the strong trust and mutual respect established during their successful tenure together at eBags, which sold $1.65 billion worth of travel products before it was acquired.
Before co-founding Iterate.ai with Sathianathan—who was a six-year member of Apple’s 60-person Secret Products Group that developed the first iPhone and is a patent holder on that groundbreaking product—Nordmark co-founded eBags in 1998 with Cobb. Cobb brings extensive experience scaling successful digital pure-play businesses, co-founding eBags (acquired by Samsonite) and 6pm.com (acquired by Zappos). He has served on the boards of publicly traded companies such as Designer Brands (DSW), and spent a decade as board director for the National Retail Federation and its digital predecessor, Shop.org.
“Iterate.ai’s approach to AI innovation is not only forward-thinking but also pragmatic, ensuring real-world application and success for enterprises,” said Cobb. “Look at how Iterate partnered with Intel to pioneer AI inference processing using CPUs on the Edge.” The company’s method of building technologies recently earned it a spot in Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators and recognition from the Colorado Technology Association as Colorado’s top technology company.
Edwards is a seasoned CEO and board chairman with over 35 years of leadership experience spanning public and private companies across industries such as digital commerce, consumer-tech AI, and CPG brands. A trusted investor and independent director with SEC financial expertise, he brings a wealth of strategic insight. His leadership roles include CEO of eBags (following Nordmark), as well as Lucy (acquired by VF), Hanna Andersson, and Borders, where he was appointed by Ben Lebow and Bill Ackman. Earlier in his career, Edwards served as EVP at Staples and CompUSA, following his graduation from Drexel University, where he is now a trustee.
“Iterate.ai recognized the transformational opportunity of AI in 2015 when it added the dot AI to its name, and customers like Ulta Beauty and Pampered Chef have been benefiting from Iterate’s cutting-edge technology for years,” said Edwards, strategic investor, Iterate.ai. “This is an incredibly smart team with a clear vision for how businesses can adopt next-gen AI effectively and securely—while outpacing and outmaneuvering competitors with innovative applications. I’m excited to help Iterate write the next chapter in the company’s story.”
Zentmyer—a former SVP of Lands’ End—helped build that company’s revenues from $10 million to a few billion after earning his MBA from Stanford University. “Iterate spent the past 18 months establishing partnerships with hardware providers like NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Intel, and distributors/resellers like TD SYNNEX that will help Iterate architect a rollout at scale,” said Zentmyer. “Building those partnerships is a tremendous feat because each of those Big Tech firms has a significant vetting process.”
With their track records, Auxier, Cobb, Edwards, and Zentmyer are well-positioned to offer valuable guidance and help Iterate.ai refine operational strategies, expand into new channels, and unlock the vast market potential of its patented solutions—further strengthening its presence in key industry verticals.
“This AI PC revolution is underway—analysts project over 100 million AI PCs will ship by 2025—and we’ve meticulously optimized Generate across Intel’s CPUs, GPUs, and NPUs to harness that on-device performance and efficiency,” said Sathianathan. “At the same time, we’re evolving Generate Enterprise into a unified, one-stop platform for agent building with a no-code interface and air-gapped, secure document RAG—complete with built-in vector databases and seamless integration into large-scale enterprise storage environments.”
Iterate.ai offers an AI platform and four distinct AI products, including its newest product, Generate. Generate is an AI Assistant that can run entirely on an AI PC, even without an internet connection.
Iterate’s low-code AI platform, Interplay, empowers traditional enterprises and Big Tech to rapidly build and scale AI solutions. With Interplay, Iterate creates its own innovative products, like Generate. Leading companies, including Ulta Beauty, Circle K, Hughes, FUJIFILM, MUFG, e.l.f. Cosmetics and Pampered Chef, leverage Interplay to enhance operational efficiency, develop custom AI-powered social media managers, implement deep-learning-based OCR, and tackle many other advanced AI initiatives.
“I’ve known each of these leaders for at least twenty years. Each brings a wealth of practical experience and strategic insight to fuel Iterate’s growth,” said Nordmark. “We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Mike, Dave, Peter, and the Auxier group as investors and strategic advisors.”
About Iterate.ai
Iterate.ai is at the forefront of empowering businesses with state-of-the-art AI solutions, like Generate and its AI low-code platform, Interplay. Interplay is cloud-agnostic and can run AI on the edge and in secure private environments. With seven patents granted (including “drag-and-drop AI”) and nearly a dozen more pending, Iterate.ai’s platform offers corporate innovators a low-risk, systematic way to scale in-house, near-term digital innovation initiatives. With its largest offices in San Jose, CA and Denver, CO, Iterate.ai has a global presence with other offices in North America (Texas, Washington, Arizona), Europe (Stockholm), and Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Singapore).
