2014
Ultimate’s origins
Reetu Kainulainen, Jaakko Pasanen, and Markus Rautio meet at Tampere University in Finland. They found a food delivery startup, Culinar Oy, that fails.
We are Ultimate
We're the customer support automation platform you won’t outgrow. And having been recently acquired by Zendesk, we're on a mission to build the world’s most advanced AI agents in CX.
The Ultimate journey
2016
The Ultimate idea
Bored on a Sunday, the trio take part in a Helsinki hackathon. Reetu sees the event support staff struggling. On a whim, he creates a demo for a support bot that wins first place. Ultimate is born.
2017
Assembling the dream team
When Ultimate is recommended by SAP for Berlin’s Techstars program, they end up in Finance Associate Sarah Al-Hussaini’s portfolio. Impressed by the product and ready for a new challenge, Sarah becomes Ultimate’s COO.
2019
Winning customers
As the team hones the product, Ultimate expands globally. Big-name brands like Finnair, Zalando, and GetYourGuide trust Ultimate as their automation partner.
2020
Wowing investors
Ultimate raises $20M in Series A funding — with investments by OMERS Ventures, Felicis Ventures, HV Capital, and Maki.vc.
2021
Accelerated growth
Ultimate is a consistent leader on tech review platform G2 and our partnerships with CRM, tech, and service providers continue to deepen: Zendesk itself uses Ultimate to automate their support.
2023
Innovating for the future
ChatGPT takes the world by storm. Staying at the forefront of AI innovation, Ultimate releases a generative AI bot to customers: UltimateGPT.
2024
Ultimate joins Zendesk
Recognizing Ultimate as the most sophisticated AI platform for CX, Zendesk acquires Ultimate. We join forces to pioneer the AI-first era of customer service together.
Ultimate is driven by 4 key values
Trust
We trust in our people fully and instantly, and value the confidence our customers place in us.
Impact
We are driven by creating real value for our customers, and both recognize and celebrate the impact of our team.
Ethics
We are proudly diverse, and committed to using our platform as a force for good.
Customer success
We know our customers have unique journeys, and define our success in terms of theirs.
Finnish born, German raised, going global
We’ve come a long way from our Helsinki hackathon roots. But customer success is still our north star — and putting people at the heart of everything we do keeps us on the right track.
As well as building cutting-edge AI technology to solve support’s greatest problems, we take pride in building an inclusive company culture that fosters belonging. Want to be part of our journey?
Our differences make us stronger
At Ultimate, we’re proudly diverse. Everyone has a seat and a voice at the table. We lead by example to shape the company — and industry — we want to see, together.
Ultimates worldwide
140
Nationalities in our team
37
Women in our team
40%
