Zeist Logo

ZEIST

The Secure, Scalable, Developer-First Infrastructure for AI Agents

Pre-Seed 2026
|
Y
YC RFS
ZeistZeist
Confidential1 / 10

AI Agents Need a New Kind of Infrastructure

Cold Start Bottleneck

  • Secure sandboxes take 5-10 seconds to spin up
  • Every tool call needs a new isolated environment
  • Agents stall waiting for infrastructure

Stateless by Default

  • Sandboxes die after minutes, losing all state
  • No persistence between agent sessions
  • Users can't return to work-in-progress

Multi-Agent Isolation Failure

  • Agents can access each other's files
  • No true isolation between concurrent agents
  • Shared file systems create security risks

Scaling Ceiling

  • DIY Kubernetes = patch vulnerabilities yourself
  • Most solutions cap at hundreds of sandboxes
  • No built-in network policies or IP filtering

Running untrusted AI code can expose secrets, overwhelm resources, or escape the container.

ZeistZeist
Confidential2 / 10

Zeist: Sandboxes Built for AI Agents

Everything you need to build production-ready AI agents

Sub-Second Spin-Up

150ms cold starts, instant snapshots, agents never wait

True Stateful Persistence

Sandboxes persist for weeks, multi-agent shared file systems with isolation

Enterprise-Grade Security

Network isolation per sandbox, outbound policies, untrusted code can't escape

zeist deploy
Instant Sandbox
Production Ready

One CLI command → Instant sandbox → Deploy to production

ZeistZeist
Confidential3 / 10

The Perfect Storm

The smartest people and biggest funds in AI agree—sandbox infrastructure is THE critical problem

6.7x

Market Explosion

$7.8B → $52.6B by 2030

95%

Enterprise Adoption

of US companies now using GenAI

RFS

YC Validation

Multi-agent infrastructure is 2026 priority

"This is like the first time where infrastructure is lagging the applications."

S

Swyx

AI Engineer & Latent Space Podcast

@swyx

"In our internal usage, sandboxing safely reduced permission prompts by 84%. Running agent-generated code requires secure sandboxing, resource limits, and monitoring."

A

Anthropic Engineering

Claude Code / Claude Agent SDK

"For security reasons, each agent tool call requires its own isolated sandbox. Security and isolation are non-negotiable."

G

Google Cloud

Kubernetes Agent Sandbox Initiative

"Every AI agent needs a sandbox. We've seen langflow RCE vulnerabilities, Cursor auto-execution exploits, and database wipe-outs at Replit."

Y

Yassine Bargach

Security Engineer

"a16z just raised $15B—including $1.7B specifically for AI Infrastructure. AI and crypto are the 'key architectures of the future.'"

— Andreessen Horowitz, January 2026

ZeistZeist
Confidential4 / 10

A $52 Billion
Opportunity

$52.62BTAM - Global AI Agents 2030
$18BSAM - AI Infrastructure 2025
$180MSOM - 1% Target Year 2
46% CAGR

$180M

SOM

1% Target Year 2

$18B

SAM

AI Infrastructure 2025

$52.62B

TAM

Global AI Agents 2030

ZeistZeist
Confidential5 / 10

Competitive Landscape

E2B

Fast 200ms startup, Firecracker microVM isolation
24hr sessions on Pro, works with any LLM
Excellent support, Fortune 100 customers
Sandboxes die after time limits, no true persistence
Complex to self-host, scaling requires managing own infra
No built-in network policies or IP filtering

Modal

Great DX with Python decorators, no YAML
Built for AI agent code execution
Sub-second cold starts, $30/mo free credits
24hr max runtime, idle timeout kills sandboxes
Named sandboxes allow only one instance per name
Vendor lock-in to Modal platform

Daytona

Sub-90ms provisioning, truly stateful sandboxes
Shared volumes across sandboxes, multi-region
SOC2/HIPAA/GDPR compliant, open-source
Younger ecosystem, less mature
Limited feature parity with established players
Pay-as-you-go can have cost surprises

Vercel Sandboxes

Firecracker microVM isolation, secure
Node.js 24 & Python 3.13 support
AI SDK integration, up to 8 vCPUs
5 min default timeout (45 min Hobby, 5hr Pro max)
2GB RAM per vCPU limit
Platform-locked to Vercel ecosystem
Limited to 4 open ports

Where Zeist Wins

We studied every competitor's limitations and built Zeist to solve them all

Sub-150ms startup + true stateful persistence (weeks, not minutes)
Multi-agent isolation with shared file systems
Built-in network policies and IP filtering
Platform-agnostic - not locked to any ecosystem
Purpose-built for AI agent workloads
Long running sandboxes 24+ hours
ZeistZeist
Confidential6 / 10

Zero to Production in Seconds

agent.py
from zeist import Sandbox
from crewai import Agent, Task, Crew
# Create a secure sandbox in milliseconds
sandbox = Sandbox.create()
# Install dependencies
sandbox.run("pip install crewai openai")
# Define your AI agent
researcher = Agent(
role="Research Analyst",
goal="Find market insights",
backstory="Expert analyst..."
)
# Run securely inside the sandbox
result = sandbox.exec(researcher.run())
ZeistDashboard
Live
Active Sandboxes

24

Requests/min

1.2k

Volumes

3 attached

12GB total

CPU

24%

Memory

2.4GB / 8GB

30%
ZeistZeist
Confidential7 / 10

Usage-Based Pricing

Pay per-second for what you use. Start free with $50 credit.

Free

$0

$50 credit + compute / month

  • 5 sandboxes
  • All features included
  • Per-second billing
  • Add card when credit exhausted
Most Popular

Pro

$199/month

+ compute / month

  • Everything in Free
  • Same per-second pricing
  • Priority support
  • Team collaboration

Enterprise

Custom

Self-host option

  • Deploy to your infrastructure
  • Custom pricing
  • Dedicated support
  • SLA guarantees
Usage Billing:
CPU
$0.000014/sec$0.05/hr
Memory
$0.000002/GB/sec$0.007/GB/hr
Storage
$0.10/GB/mo
Product-Led Growth
Community Adoption
Enterprise Conversion
ZeistZeist
Confidential8 / 10

The Ask

Pre-Seed Investment Round

Raising

$800K

18-Month Runway

Instrument

SAFE

Fund Allocation

Research & Development50%
Product Development25%
Go-to-Market15%
Operations10%
ZeistZeist
Confidential9 / 10

Meet the Team

Building the future of AI infrastructure

OBINNA

OBINNA

CEO

Google Award-Winning Engineer for Open Source
4x Cloud Certified: Google Cloud Architect, DevOps, ML Engineer + AWS Solutions Architect Pro
Official Maintainer of ChartMuseum (Helm/CNCF) — 890M+ downloads, used Google, Lyft, Airbnb & Fortune 500s
Core Kubernetes ecosystem contributor working on Batch/AI/ML workloads. Used at Google, Red Hat etc
10+ years at YC startups & unicorns
CHIBS

CHIBS

CTO

7+ years scaling distributed systems to millions of users
Led backend for Meta, British Airways, Qatar Airways, BP
Deep expertise in cloud infrastructure and DevOps
Proven track record shipping production systems at scale

Collective Experience

Google
AWS
Meta
Microsoft

Get in Touch

Obinna@clouddley.com
Zeist.io
ZeistZeist
Confidential10 / 10
Zeist Logo

ZEIST

The Secure, Scalable, Developer-First Infrastructure for AI Agents

Pre-Seed 2026
|
Y
YC RFS
ZeistZeist
Confidential1 / 10

AI Agents Need a New Kind of Infrastructure

Cold Start Bottleneck

  • Secure sandboxes take 5-10 seconds to spin up
  • Every tool call needs a new isolated environment
  • Agents stall waiting for infrastructure

Stateless by Default

  • Sandboxes die after minutes, losing all state
  • No persistence between agent sessions
  • Users can't return to work-in-progress

Multi-Agent Isolation Failure

  • Agents can access each other's files
  • No true isolation between concurrent agents
  • Shared file systems create security risks

Scaling Ceiling

  • DIY Kubernetes = patch vulnerabilities yourself
  • Most solutions cap at hundreds of sandboxes
  • No built-in network policies or IP filtering

Running untrusted AI code can expose secrets, overwhelm resources, or escape the container.

ZeistZeist
Confidential2 / 10

Zeist: Sandboxes Built for AI Agents

Everything you need to build production-ready AI agents

Sub-Second Spin-Up

150ms cold starts, instant snapshots, agents never wait

True Stateful Persistence

Sandboxes persist for weeks, multi-agent shared file systems with isolation

Enterprise-Grade Security

Network isolation per sandbox, outbound policies, untrusted code can't escape

zeist deploy
Instant Sandbox
Production Ready

One CLI command → Instant sandbox → Deploy to production

ZeistZeist
Confidential3 / 10

The Perfect Storm

The smartest people and biggest funds in AI agree—sandbox infrastructure is THE critical problem

6.7x

Market Explosion

$7.8B → $52.6B by 2030

95%

Enterprise Adoption

of US companies now using GenAI

RFS

YC Validation

Multi-agent infrastructure is 2026 priority

"This is like the first time where infrastructure is lagging the applications."

S

Swyx

AI Engineer & Latent Space Podcast

@swyx

"In our internal usage, sandboxing safely reduced permission prompts by 84%. Running agent-generated code requires secure sandboxing, resource limits, and monitoring."

A

Anthropic Engineering

Claude Code / Claude Agent SDK

"For security reasons, each agent tool call requires its own isolated sandbox. Security and isolation are non-negotiable."

G

Google Cloud

Kubernetes Agent Sandbox Initiative

"Every AI agent needs a sandbox. We've seen langflow RCE vulnerabilities, Cursor auto-execution exploits, and database wipe-outs at Replit."

Y

Yassine Bargach

Security Engineer

"a16z just raised $15B—including $1.7B specifically for AI Infrastructure. AI and crypto are the 'key architectures of the future.'"

— Andreessen Horowitz, January 2026

ZeistZeist
Confidential4 / 10

A $52 Billion
Opportunity

$52.62BTAM - Global AI Agents 2030
$18BSAM - AI Infrastructure 2025
$180MSOM - 1% Target Year 2
46% CAGR

$180M

SOM

1% Target Year 2

$18B

SAM

AI Infrastructure 2025

$52.62B

TAM

Global AI Agents 2030

ZeistZeist
Confidential5 / 10

Competitive Landscape

E2B

Fast 200ms startup, Firecracker microVM isolation
24hr sessions on Pro, works with any LLM
Excellent support, Fortune 100 customers
Sandboxes die after time limits, no true persistence
Complex to self-host, scaling requires managing own infra
No built-in network policies or IP filtering

Modal

Great DX with Python decorators, no YAML
Built for AI agent code execution
Sub-second cold starts, $30/mo free credits
24hr max runtime, idle timeout kills sandboxes
Named sandboxes allow only one instance per name
Vendor lock-in to Modal platform

Daytona

Sub-90ms provisioning, truly stateful sandboxes
Shared volumes across sandboxes, multi-region
SOC2/HIPAA/GDPR compliant, open-source
Younger ecosystem, less mature
Limited feature parity with established players
Pay-as-you-go can have cost surprises

Vercel Sandboxes

Firecracker microVM isolation, secure
Node.js 24 & Python 3.13 support
AI SDK integration, up to 8 vCPUs
5 min default timeout (45 min Hobby, 5hr Pro max)
2GB RAM per vCPU limit
Platform-locked to Vercel ecosystem
Limited to 4 open ports

Where Zeist Wins

We studied every competitor's limitations and built Zeist to solve them all

Sub-150ms startup + true stateful persistence (weeks, not minutes)
Multi-agent isolation with shared file systems
Built-in network policies and IP filtering
Platform-agnostic - not locked to any ecosystem
Purpose-built for AI agent workloads
Long running sandboxes 24+ hours
ZeistZeist
Confidential6 / 10

Zero to Production in Seconds

agent.py
from zeist import Sandbox
from crewai import Agent, Task, Crew
# Create a secure sandbox in milliseconds
sandbox = Sandbox.create()
# Install dependencies
sandbox.run("pip install crewai openai")
# Define your AI agent
researcher = Agent(
role="Research Analyst",
goal="Find market insights",
backstory="Expert analyst..."
)
# Run securely inside the sandbox
result = sandbox.exec(researcher.run())
ZeistDashboard
Live
Active Sandboxes

24

Requests/min

1.2k

Volumes

3 attached

12GB total

CPU

24%

Memory

2.4GB / 8GB

30%
ZeistZeist
Confidential7 / 10

Usage-Based Pricing

Pay per-second for what you use. Start free with $50 credit.

Free

$0

$50 credit + compute / month

  • 5 sandboxes
  • All features included
  • Per-second billing
  • Add card when credit exhausted
Most Popular

Pro

$199/month

+ compute / month

  • Everything in Free
  • Same per-second pricing
  • Priority support
  • Team collaboration

Enterprise

Custom

Self-host option

  • Deploy to your infrastructure
  • Custom pricing
  • Dedicated support
  • SLA guarantees
Usage Billing:
CPU
$0.000014/sec$0.05/hr
Memory
$0.000002/GB/sec$0.007/GB/hr
Storage
$0.10/GB/mo
Product-Led Growth
Community Adoption
Enterprise Conversion
ZeistZeist
Confidential8 / 10

The Ask

Pre-Seed Investment Round

Raising

$800K

18-Month Runway

Instrument

SAFE

Fund Allocation

Research & Development50%
Product Development25%
Go-to-Market15%
Operations10%
ZeistZeist
Confidential9 / 10

Meet the Team

Building the future of AI infrastructure

OBINNA

OBINNA

CEO

Google Award-Winning Engineer for Open Source
4x Cloud Certified: Google Cloud Architect, DevOps, ML Engineer + AWS Solutions Architect Pro
Official Maintainer of ChartMuseum (Helm/CNCF) — 890M+ downloads, used Google, Lyft, Airbnb & Fortune 500s
Core Kubernetes ecosystem contributor working on Batch/AI/ML workloads. Used at Google, Red Hat etc
10+ years at YC startups & unicorns
CHIBS

CHIBS

CTO

7+ years scaling distributed systems to millions of users
Led backend for Meta, British Airways, Qatar Airways, BP
Deep expertise in cloud infrastructure and DevOps
Proven track record shipping production systems at scale

Collective Experience

Google
AWS
Meta
Microsoft

Get in Touch

Obinna@clouddley.com
Zeist.io
ZeistZeist
Confidential10 / 10
1 / 10