The race to build increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence is hitting a new bottleneck: the need for constant human feedback. Zurich-based startup Rapidata is aiming to solve this challenge with a newly secured €7.2 million seed funding round, positioning itself as a key player in the emerging infrastructure layer that connects human insight with rapidly evolving AI models. The funding will be used to scale a global network for this crucial human feedback, essential for aligning and refining AI’s capabilities.
Modern AI systems, although adept at generating text and images, often struggle with nuance, judgment, and contextual understanding – areas where humans excel. This limitation has led to the widespread adoption of Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), a process where people evaluate AI outputs to shape model behavior. Rapidata’s approach promises to dramatically accelerate this process, compressing feedback loops from weeks or months down to hours or days, a critical advantage in a fiercely competitive market.
The seed round was co-led by Canaan Partners and IA Ventures, with participation from Acequia Capital and BlueYard, according to an announcement from EU-Startups. Rapidata, founded in 2023, differentiates itself by providing on-demand access to a worldwide network of individuals, moving beyond traditional, static pools of annotators or data labeling services.
The Growing Importance of Human-in-the-Loop AI
The need for human feedback isn’t merely a temporary fix. it’s becoming increasingly central to responsible AI development. As AI models grow more powerful, ensuring they are useful, safe, and aligned with real-world expectations requires continuous refinement through human judgment. Rapidata’s platform taps into a continuously available, global network, enabling AI teams to gather large volumes of high-quality human assessments with greater speed and flexibility than previously possible.
This approach addresses a fundamental problem highlighted by Rapidata CEO and founder Jason Corkill: “Human feedback has become the limiting factor in AI progress,” he stated in a press release. “Rapidata removes that ceiling by making human judgment available at a global scale and near real time, unlocking a future where AI teams can run constant feedback loops and build systems that evolve every day instead of every release cycle.”
Beyond Data Labeling: A New AI Infrastructure Layer
Rapidata’s technology delivers quick, global, on-demand human data, cutting timelines from weeks to hours, as noted in the company’s press materials. Instead of relying on traditional data labeling services, the platform leverages what it calls “crowd intelligence” and advanced machine learning infrastructure. This allows teams to access human insight regardless of geographic limitations, scaling with demand as needed.
The company’s emergence reflects a broader trend within the AI industry: a growing recognition that human judgment is a core component of the AI stack, not an afterthought. Investors and developers are increasingly focused on integrating human feedback loops directly into the development process. Other European AI infrastructure companies are similarly attracting investment, including Swiss data governance platform Qala, which raised €1.7 million, and German synthetic data provider simmetry.ai, which secured a €330k grant, according to EU-Startups.
Rapidata believes the next major constraint in AI development won’t be computing power, but rather the availability of high-quality human input. The company aims to build the platform that delivers this critical signal, enabling faster iteration and more robust AI systems.
With this new funding, Rapidata plans to expand its global human feedback network, onboarding more participants and improving integration with existing AI development workflows. The company is positioning itself as a key enabler for the next generation of AI, one where continuous learning and human alignment are paramount.
As the AI landscape continues to evolve, the ability to efficiently gather and incorporate human feedback will be crucial for building intelligent systems that are not only powerful but also safe, reliable, and aligned with human values. Rapidata’s approach offers a promising solution to this challenge, and its growth will be one to watch in the coming months.
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