About us

Leapfrog into AI‑native customer success

We believe AI should drive revenue across the entire customer lifecycle - not just deflect tickets. Our platform puts a persistent AI agent behind every customer, from first visit to renewal.

Our mission

Complexity made simple

UNLESS, founded by serial entrepreneurs, helps regulated European enterprises move beyond AI pilots by closing the skills gap and removing regulatory friction with end‑to‑end, AI‑native customer success solutions.

We aim to simplify access to the complex information that matters at every stage of the customer lifecycle. Our conversational and agentic AI platform, tailored for finance, healthcare, insurance, and other high‑trust sectors, lets organizations embed fully compliant AI assistants into existing systems to boost customer experience, net retention, and team productivity.

The company is backed by River Venture Partners, Block Party, Rockstart, and several angel investors. Its management currently consists of Marcel Panse as chief technology officer and Sander Nagtegaal as chief executive officer.

Founded
2017
Employees
6
Accounts
50
Raised
€1M

“UNLESS was able to launch a service that is helpful to businesses all over the world and gives them a scalable solution with an almost infinite peak capacity”

Werner Vogels, CTO at Amazon
River Venture Partners Rockstart BlockParty

Backed to build AI‑native customer success

Starting as “teletext.io”, we joined Rockstart’s Web and Mobile program pre‑launch in 2016. We raised pre‑seed funding in 2017 with help from friends and family, and again in 2019 after our full launch as UNLESS, doubling down on AI‑driven customer success for regulated markets.

Advisory board

A group of seasoned professionals provides guidance on strategy, governance, and go‑to‑market, helping us scale AI‑native customer success in regulated Europe. Their experience and varied backgrounds are instrumental in shaping how UNLESS balances innovation with risk and compliance.

  • Sabine van Velsen

    Ex-Google sales leader

  • Christina Caljé

    Former Goldman Sachs Executive Director

  • Herman Kienhuis

    Tech investor

  • Daniel Scheijen

    CMO Pastbook

  • Dave Dirks

    Tech investor

  • Maurice Beckand Verwee

    Tech investor

Frequently asked questions

What is Unless and what does the company focus on?

Unless is the AI-native customer success platform for regulated European businesses. The Customer Agent covers Acquisition, Retention, Expansion, and Support, and the Engine behind it learns on a loop with full audit trails. We focus on finance, insurance, pensions, HR and payroll, and healthcare, where AI has to work and be defensible at the same time.

What is the mission?

Complexity made simple. We help regulated European enterprises move beyond AI pilots by closing the skills gap and removing regulatory friction. Most AI tools are built for the US or for unregulated SaaS. We build for the buyers whose DPO has to sign off, whose CFO wants the ROI in writing, and whose customers still expect a human standard of service.

Why focus on regulated European markets?

Because the gap is widest there. Regulated buyers want AI that does real work, but most tools either play it too safe or go too far. Unless covers the middle: real automation, full audit, EU data residency, and the controls regulators ask about. The category is large and chronically underserved.

Who founded Unless and who leads it today?

Unless was founded by serial entrepreneurs Sander Nagtegaal and Marcel Panse. Sander leads as CEO, Marcel as CTO. Both have spent more than a decade building digital products and the infrastructure underneath them, including stints as CTO at myTomorrows, Sumis, Albumprinter, and Peecho.

When was Unless founded and how big is the team?

Unless was founded in 2017 as the next chapter of a component framework that began as teletext.io in Rockstart's Web and Mobile program in 2016. Today the team is around 8 people, serves 50 accounts, and has raised €1M from River Venture Partners, Block Party, Rockstart, and angels.

Who invests in and advises Unless?

Unless is backed by River Venture Partners, Block Party, Rockstart, and a group of angel investors. The advisory board includes former leaders from Google and Goldman Sachs, plus operators with deep AI and enterprise-sales experience. They guide us on strategy, governance, and scale inside regulated markets.

How has the product evolved?

Unless started as an open-source component framework for digital product teams. We enrolled in OpenAI's beta program in 2020 and pivoted into AI assistance in 2022. In 2023 the component framework evolved with feedback from large customers, and in 2024 we doubled down on privacy and governance for the EU. Today it is one Customer Agent and one Engine across the journey.

How is Unless different from generic AI tools?

Generic AI tools sell features. Unless sells outcomes across the whole customer journey. The agent runs Acquisition, Retention, Expansion, and Support with one memory, the Engine keeps it grounded with three senses, and the architecture meets GDPR, DORA, and the EU AI Act out of the box.

What does the EU AI Act mean for buyers?

EU AI Act enforcement is intensifying now, in Q3 2026. That deadline has arrived, and it is still an opportunity. Buyers who already have an audit-ready AI in production are ahead of competitors who waited. Unless is built to be that AI.

What kind of organizations work with Unless today?

Financial institutions, insurance companies, pension providers, HR and payroll platforms, healthcare organizations, and ERP vendors across Europe. They share a profile: regulated, multi-product, and big enough that customer success is a real number on the P&L. The Visma Group standardized on Unless across more than 30 of its companies.

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