Former Amazon leaders launch Albatross AI powered product discovery platform from stealth

Zurich-based Albatross has launched from stealth with a $12.5 seed funding round.

The startup’s AI platform helps retailers instantly adapt to in-session customer behaviour, with the aim of surfacing inspiring, contextually relevant items users would otherwise miss.

The round was led by MMC Ventures with participation from Redalpine, Daphni, and strategic angels, bringing Albatross's total funding to date to $16 million, following a $3.5 million foundation round in September 2024 led by Redalpine. It was founded in 2024 by Dr Kevin Kahn and Dr Matteo Ruffini, both former Amazon AI leaders, alongside entrepreneur Johan Boissard.

“Our mission is to close the discovery gap,” says Kahn. “Everyone has felt the frustration of seeing the same generic recommendations over and over. Our system perceives and adapts instantly, so every search and feed reflects the user’s intent at that very moment.”

“From our conversations with a broad range of CEOs, we know they all want to adopt AI, but most efforts fail because they treat it as an add-on. The real opportunity is to rethink how experiences are shaped - to make every interaction intelligent, adaptive, and alive. That’s what Albatross does: it learns and reasons in real time, understanding intent the moment it happens.”

“Personalisation is entering a new era,” says Mina Samaan, General Partner at MMC Ventures. “Albatross moves beyond static algorithms to build systems that understand context as it happens. Their real-time architecture represents a step change for how businesses engage customers online.”

“We backed Albatross from the very beginning because of the team’s exceptional depth in AI and personalisation,” says Dr Marc Moesser, Investor at Redalpine. “In just a year, they’ve gone beyond what even the largest platforms achieve with real-time infrastructure that adapts instantly to user behaviour.”

 RTIH AI in Retail Awards

RTIH proudly presents the first edition of its AI in Retail Awards, sponsored by 3D Cloud and EdTech Innovation Hub.

This is now open for entries. Deadline for submissions is Friday, 5th December. It’s free to enter and you can do so across multiple categories.

Check out categories and entry forms here.

As we witness a digital transformation revolution across all channels, AI tools are reshaping the omnichannel game, from personalising customer experiences to optimising inventory, uncovering insights into consumer behaviour, and enhancing the human element of retailers' businesses.

With 2025 set to be the year when AI and especially gen AI shake off the ‘heavily hyped’ tag and become embedded in retail business processes, our newly launched awards celebrate global technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world and the resulting benefits for retailers, shoppers and employees.

Our 2025 winners will be those companies who not only recognise the potential of AI, but also make it usable in everyday work - resulting in more efficiency and innovation in all areas.

Winners will be announced at an evening event at The Barbican in Central London on Thursday, 29th January. This will kick off with a drinks reception in the stunning Conservatory, followed by a three course meal, and awards ceremony in the Garden Room.