Hatz AI, a New York startup that sells an AI platform for small businesses through their IT service providers, has raised $24 million in a Series A round. The funding bets that the fastest way for small and mid-sized companies to adopt AI is through the managed service providers (MSPs) that already run their computers, networks and security.
The round was led by Nadia Partners, with Vestigo Ventures and The Private Shares Fund also taking part. Hatz says the money will go into its model-routing technology, its engineering teams and a larger New York office.
What Hatz AI’s $24M Series A Pays For
Hatz AI announced the round on November 12, 2026. Josh Schertzer, a partner at Nadia Partners and a former chief technology officer at Blackstone, led the deal.
According to the company, the new money has three main targets:
- Its automatic model-routing engine, which picks which leading AI model handles each task
- Benchmarks and what it calls internal “software factory” infrastructure
- Hiring for its forward-deployed engineering team and its AI research and optimization groups
Forward-deployed engineers work directly alongside partners, helping them set up and tune AI tools for real customers. That kind of hands-on support matters when the end customer is a 20-person firm with no data scientist on staff.
How the Hatz AI Platform Works for MSPs
Most small businesses don’t hire their own IT department. Instead, they pay an MSP to handle cloud accounts, devices, backups and security. Hatz is built for those providers, not for the businesses directly.
The company describes its product as an AI control plane that serves many customers at once. An MSP can use it to set guardrails, track AI spending, and send requests to different frontier models without managing each one separately. The provider can then sell the service under its own brand.
Ready-made agents for common jobs
Rather than handing customers a loose pile of chatbots, Hatz offers a set of customizable AI agents and workflows. Examples mentioned in coverage of the round include ticket triage for IT teams, marketing content drafting, sales lead qualification and bookkeeping support.
The idea is similar to other AI agent platforms, but packaged for the channel. Hatz also stresses that it does not sell directly to businesses, so it doesn’t compete with the MSPs that resell it.
Growth Numbers Behind the Funding
Hatz shared several growth figures alongside the announcement. These are company claims and were not independently verified.
| Metric | What Hatz reports |
|---|---|
| Series A size | $24 million |
| Lead investor | Nadia Partners |
| Other backers | Vestigo Ventures, The Private Shares Fund |
| Partner reach | All 50 U.S. states, 9 Canadian provinces, 9 other countries |
| Active MSP partners | Tripled year over year |
| AI builder certifications | More than 15,000 issued |
| Team size | Grew from 14 to about 60 people |
The company also says its revenue grew faster than its partner count over the past year, though it did not share revenue figures. CEO and co-founder Jimmy Hatzell called AI transformation “existential” for small and mid-sized businesses.
Why Small Businesses Are Falling Behind on AI
Large companies have budgets, engineers and security teams to test new AI tools. Small firms usually have none of those, and that gap is the problem Hatz is trying to close.
Hatzell’s argument is that small businesses struggle to compare a crowded market of chatbots and agents, predict unpredictable usage costs, and keep company data safe. A trusted IT provider can take on those jobs, the same way it already handles threat detection and backups.
Governance is a big part of the pitch. Investors have poured money into tools that track and control workplace AI use, such as Harmonic Security, and Hatz is selling a version of that control to providers serving smaller clients.
What This Means for You
If you run or work at a small business, this round is a sign that AI help may soon arrive through the IT company you already pay. Here are a few practical points to keep in mind:
- Ask your MSP whether it offers AI services, and which platform sits behind them.
- Check where your data goes and which AI models process it before you sign up.
- Ask how usage is billed, since AI costs can rise quickly with heavy use.
- Start with one clear task, like drafting replies or sorting support tickets, before rolling AI out widely.
If you work at an MSP, expect more vendors pitching white-label AI platforms. Comparing guardrails, spend controls and model choices will matter more than flashy demos. Our roundup of business AI tools is a useful starting point for comparing options.
Takeaway: For many small companies, the path to AI may not be a new app they find themselves, but a service their IT provider switches on for them.
Sources
Primary source: Hatz AI’s Series A announcement. Additional reporting from SiliconANGLE. More stories on our AI news page.
Conclusion
Hatz AI’s $24 million Series A backs a simple idea: small businesses will adopt AI through the IT partners they already trust. The company plans to spend the money on model routing, engineering and research as its MSP network grows. Its growth figures are self-reported, so the real test will be whether providers can turn the platform into AI services that small firms actually keep using. For now, it’s one more sign that AI tools are moving down-market from large enterprises to Main Street.
