Our Team
Built by people who have taken AI from the lab to the field, and to exit.
Ritmo AI is led by a Sacramento-area team that has spent years building and selling AI and robotics companies. Together we've founded, scaled, and sold startups to Nextracker, Microsoft, Zoom, and others. We've shipped Gemini-class models at Google and put autonomous robots to work on real job sites. Now we're bringing that experience to mid-size businesses: AI agents that connect to the systems you already run, show you where time and money are being lost, and then do the work. The same team also builds Finn, our agents for the physical world, in our own lab in Rocklin.
Derek Chase
Founder & CEO
Derek is a serial entrepreneur in AI and robotics. He founded OnSight Technology, whose autonomous robots and AI inspected utility-scale solar sites, and led it through its acquisition by Nextracker (NASDAQ: NXT, now Nextpower). He then served as Vice President of Robotics & AI at Nextpower. Derek holds patents for ground-robot solar inspection and invented the first outdoor smoke-detection cameras powered by AI. He also runs Ritmo Ventures, an advisory and investment firm, and founded Chase Robotics & AI. He leads Ritmo AI's strategy, customers, and partnerships.