Israeli startup Explorium shuts down after raising more than $127 million
Founded in 2017 by Omer Har, Or Tamir and Maor Shlomo, who later left the company to focus on Base44, Explorium built a data enrichment platform before pivoting toward generative AI and tools for AI agents. Its founders say it continued to grow over the past year but could not turn that momentum into a sustainable business.
The Israeli startup Explorium is shutting down after nearly nine years of operation. Founders Omer Har and Or Tamir announced the closure in a farewell post, describing the company’s efforts to adapt to rapid changes in the artificial intelligence market. Founded in 2017, Explorium raised more than $127 million from investors including Insight Partners, Oren Zeev’s Zeev Ventures, Emerge, F2 Capital and 01 Advisors. Another co-founder, Maor Shlomo, has since gone on to found Base44, acquired by Wix.
Explorium was established by Shlomo, Tamir and Har. The company initially developed a data enrichment platform that connected organizations to thousands of external data sources and signals, allowing them to supplement their internal datasets. The aim was to help data professionals improve machine learning predictions and make better business decisions. Applications included predicting customer churn, assessing credit risk and identifying new business opportunities.
The company enjoyed considerable success in its early fundraising rounds. In September 2019, it raised $15.5 million in a Series A round led by Zeev Ventures, following a $3.6 million seed round. In July 2020, it secured $31 million in a Series B round, followed by a $75 million Series C round led by Insight Partners in May 2021. The latest financing brought its total funding to more than $127 million. At the time, Explorium employed approximately 130 people and was expanding its operations in Israel and the United States.
But the market in which Explorium operated was changing rapidly. As machine learning became increasingly commoditized and capabilities once reserved for specialized providers became more widely available, the company entered a period of change and restructuring.
In their farewell post, Har and Tamir said that after Har took over as CEO, Explorium decided to pivot early toward generative AI. Their premise was that AI agents would emerge as a new category of business users, requiring broad access to high-quality data.
Building on its existing infrastructure and partnerships, Explorium launched AgentSource in early 2025, describing it as the first B2B data platform designed for go-to-market agents. The product was aimed at a new wave of companies and platforms developing automated sales and marketing tools.
The company subsequently introduced what it described as the first B2B data enrichment solution based on the Model Context Protocol (MCP). That product evolved into Vibe Prospecting, which the founders called the first standalone in-chat prospecting application. It allowed users to access B2B data and identify potential customers through an AI chat interface. According to the founders, the product attracted more than 350,000 registered users.
Despite its efforts to reposition the company for the emerging AI-agent market, Explorium was unable to sustain its operations. Har and Tamir said the company had continued to grow over the past year, even as the market underwent significant upheaval, but that growth ultimately proved insufficient.
“Today we are sharing hard news. After almost nine years, Explorium is ceasing operations,” the founders wrote. “We started Explorium believing in the power of AI for business, and that AI is only as good as the data behind it.”
They described the company's evolution from data enrichment to products designed for AI agents, before acknowledging that its efforts had not been enough to keep the business going.
“Thanks to an extraordinary team, we moved rapidly in a market undergoing real turmoil and kept growing this past year. In the end, it saddens us to say it all just wasn’t enough,” they wrote.
The founders also thanked the company's customers, users, partners, investors and employees, describing building Explorium as “the privilege of our careers.”
