ServiceNow founder Fred Luddy has launched a six-person AI startup in Encinitas, raising $11.5 million in seed funding for the venture.

StarLifter, which Luddy founded in 2025, is building what it calls an "enterprise decision layer." The platform aims to replace the manual data analysis and marathon meetings that slow decision-making at large companies, according to the San Diego Business Journal.

Luddy put up about $10 million himself to get StarLifter off the ground and prove the concept before seeking outside investors.

The company targets enterprise resource management systems, the software businesses use to run manufacturing, supply chains, sales and accounting. Those systems generate enormous amounts of data, but Luddy said the follow-up is often inefficient. Workers hold "god-awful meetings where they try to figure out why the dashboard looks a certain way," he told the San Diego Business Journal, then get dispatched to investigate across multiple systems.

StarLifter's platform uses large language models, the AI technology behind tools like ChatGPT and Claude, to monitor a company's data in real time. It detects operational changes, determines their effects and surfaces recommended actions. Luddy said traditional software can't handle ambiguity the way LLMs can, because conventional programs must anticipate every possible scenario in advance.

He compared the platform to a highly effective chief of staff. Human workers still play a key role, providing context such as how sales differ by region and giving final approval before the system acts.

StarLifter has signed three clients so far. The company expects to add three more by the end of 2026 in banking, consumer packaged goods and light manufacturing. Luddy estimated the total addressable market at about $100 billion.

Before founding ServiceNow, Luddy served as chief technology officer at Peregrine Systems, a San Diego-based enterprise software company. He started ServiceNow, originally called Glidesoft, in 2003. The company went public in June 2012 with a $210 million initial public offering.

Luddy projected StarLifter's client base will grow to between 20 and 40 companies by the end of 2027.