Internet Backyard, an AI startup building the financial backbone for the data center economy, has emerged from stealth with $4.5 million in pre-seed funding. The company was co-founded by Mai Trinh and Gabriel Ravacci and is now headquartered in San Francisco following its relocation from Vancouver. The move reflects a growing pattern of Canadian-founded startups shifting south to accelerate growth and reduce operational friction.
A Modern Solution for an Outdated Industry
Internet Backyard is tackling a structural inefficiency in the rapidly expanding compute market, where many data center operators still rely on spreadsheets and legacy tools to manage financial operations. These outdated systems often lead to billing disputes, revenue leakage, and slow cash collection, problems that are becoming more acute as AI-driven compute demand scales.
The company’s first product, Gnomos, is an AI-powered platform designed to modernize financial operations for data centers and GPU cloud providers. Gnomos automates core order-to-cash workflows, including quoting, usage metering, billing, payments, and dispute resolution, while providing clearer visibility into consumption and costs. The platform is already being piloted with its first customer, Vancouver-based data center operator AxiNorth.
Securing Significant Pre-Seed Investment
The $4.5 million pre-seed round was raised through a SAFE and values Internet Backyard at $25 million. The round was led by US-based venture firm Basis Set, signaling investor confidence in the company’s ambition to modernize the financial infrastructure underpinning global compute markets.
Additional participation came from Crucible Capital, Breakers, Operator Collective, and Maple VC. The round also included angel investors Ian Crosby, Jay Adelson, and Geordie Rose, providing the company with a mix of capital, operational experience, and deep domain expertise across infrastructure, software, and entrepreneurship.
A Founder’s Journey From Vancouver to Silicon Valley
Before launching Internet Backyard, co-founder Mai Trinh attempted to help strengthen Vancouver’s startup ecosystem through her Red Thread Club initiative. However, her experience building a company in Canada exposed structural challenges that ultimately influenced the decision to relocate.
Trinh cited immigration complexity, slower enterprise procurement cycles, and limited appetite for early pilots as major constraints. In contrast, the US offered a clearer visa pathway and a business environment more willing to test and adopt new technologies quickly. This shift has allowed Internet Backyard to move faster in product iteration and customer engagement.
This decision aligns with a broader trend, as data shows that nearly half of high-potential Canadian-led startups founded in 2024 are headquartered in the US, while only 32.4% remain based in Canada. While Trinh received outreach from other founders facing similar hurdles, the company’s focus remains firmly on solving a pressing problem in the compute economy. For Internet Backyard, the relocation was ultimately a pragmatic choice driven by execution speed rather than geography.
With fresh capital, early customer traction, and a clear market need, Internet Backyard is positioning itself to fill a critical gap in data center financial infrastructure. Its story highlights how systemic ecosystem factors increasingly shape where ambitious founders choose to build and scale.