What Distillery does

Distillery is a privately held nearshore software development firm founded in 2012 and headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, with a delivery workforce of 300+ professionals based in Latin America. The company provides two core engagement models: Staff Augmentation, which embeds individual AI-capable engineers directly into client teams, and Agile Development Teams, which delivers custom-built cross-functional teams under Distillery's proprietary Product Engineering Methodology (PEM) with Discover, Develop, and Deploy phases. Supporting service lines span web and mobile development, QA and testing (including AI-driven automation), UX/UI design, data engineering, and product/project management, with claimed delivery speed of up to 4x faster than traditional development cycles.

The technology stack centers on AI-powered development and data/AI engineering. Distillery operates as a verified Databricks Consulting Partner, an official Anthropic Services Partner, an AI Data Cloud partner with Snowflake, and a partner with dbt, Fivetran, AtScale, Power BI, Tableau, and Palantir. The firm has built DistillGenie, a proprietary conversational AI solution combining Databricks Genie, AtScale's semantic layer, Azure OpenAI, and Slack for natural language querying of governed business data. AI development work uses external large language models (Claude from Anthropic, Azure OpenAI) rather than proprietary foundation models, with named use cases covering generative AI, predictive analytics, anomaly detection, recommendation engines, knowledge retrieval, and process automation. The firm holds GDPR and CCPA compliance and supports SOC 2 readiness for clients.

Commercially, Distillery operates an enterprise field-sales motion targeting large US-based brands. Pricing is quote-based with multi-year contracts and flexible team scaling. Named enterprise customers include eBay, Citi National Bank, Mercedes-Benz, Rakuten, Tala, Sweetgreen, Thrive Market, Carvana, and Naranja X; mid-market and startup customers include FilmTrack, Cruisebound, Attorney Share, Breakthru, and EarnIn. Vertical focus is broad across fintech, eCommerce, SaaS, automotive, media, travel, healthcare, logistics, and consumer products. The firm has no disclosed outside funding, no public financials, and is founder-owned, with Inc5000 2024 and Clutch 2025 regional rankings serving as primary external growth signals.

Name

Distillery

Legal name

Distillery

Website

https://distillery.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Distillery is a nearshore software development firm, founded in 2012 and based in Manhattan Beach, California, providing AI-capable engineers and agile teams to US-based enterprise and mid-market clients across fintech, eCommerce, SaaS, automotive, and other verticals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Manhattan Beach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Staff Augmentation: Elite AI-powered engineers embedded directly into client projects, providing specialized technology talent that integrates with existing teams to fill technology gaps and accelerate project delivery
2. Agile Development Teams: Custom-built agile development teams including engineers, product managers, UI/UX designers, and QA engineers led by project managers, delivering complete software solutions from ideation to deployment

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Distillery is a nearshore software development services company that delivers AI-powered engineers and agile development teams to US-based clients. It provides full software lifecycle support through two primary engagement models—Staff Augmentation (embedding individual engineers into client teams) and Agile Development Teams (dedicated cross-functional teams)—spanning custom software, web, mobile, QA, UX/UI design, data engineering, AI development, and product/project management.

Product overview

Distillery is a nearshore software development services company offering two primary engagement models: Staff Augmentation (embedding individual elite AI-powered engineers into client teams) and Agile Development Teams (custom-built full cross-functional teams). These core models are supported by a portfolio of specialized service offerings including Web Development, Mobile Development, QA and Testing, UX/UI Design, Data Engineering, Product Management, and Project Management. The company also provides AI-Powered Development as a cross-cutting capability that integrates with all service areas. All offerings are delivered by nearshore engineers based in Latin America, with global operations headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Software delivery up to 4x faster with AI-powered development
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers23 records

Segments9 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

AI capability10 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• DatabrickscoreTechnology or IntegrationVerified Databricks Consulting Partner with deep expertise in Data Intelligence Platform for analytics and AI. Distillery provides data engineers and analysts to help businesses leverage Databricks for data-driven transformation, including data ingestion, transformation, warehousing, and advanced analytics. Joint go-to-market as authorized consulting partner.
• AnthropiccoreTechnology or IntegrationOfficial Anthropic Services Partner delivering enterprise AI solutions. Distillery leverages Claude and related Anthropic technologies for conversational AI, analytics experiences, and intelligent automation solutions.
• SnowflakecoreTechnology or IntegrationAI Data Cloud partner providing expertise for scalable, governed data solutions. Distillery's data engineers specialize in Snowflake implementations for enterprise data warehousing and analytics.
• dbt (Data Build Tool)coreTechnology or IntegrationModern data transformation partner enabling trusted, analytics-ready data implementations. Distillery uses dbt for data transformation and analytics engineering in client data platforms.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Toptal: Premium freelance talent network providing vetted engineers, designers, and product managers on staff-augmentation and project bases. Comparable on the 'elite, rigorously vetted developer' positioning and enterprise buyer.
• Andela: Global tech talent marketplace connecting vetted engineers (including significant LATAM and African talent) with enterprises for staff augmentation and dedicated teams. Direct peer on the 'vetted nearshore engineer' go-to-market.
• SoftServe: Large nearshore IT services and software development provider with delivery in Eastern Europe and LATAM. Comparable offering across staff augmentation, agile teams, data engineering, and AI services to enterprise clients.
• BairesDev: Largest nearshore software development company from Latin America, providing staff augmentation and dedicated teams to US enterprises. Direct competitor with overlapping LATAM delivery model, talent vetting approach, and enterprise customer base.

Broad incumbents

• EPAM Systems: Global digital engineering and product development services firm with strong nearshore presence in LATAM and Eastern Europe. Direct overlap with Distillery's staff augmentation and agile team offerings for enterprise clients.
• Slalom: Global technology and business consulting firm with strong nearshore delivery partnerships for software engineering. Comparable on enterprise consulting-led delivery model and data/AI transformation work.
• Thoughtworks: Global technology consultancy offering custom software development, agile delivery, and data/AI engineering. Comparable on agile team delivery model and enterprise transformation projects, though at much larger scale.
• Cognizant: Large global IT services and digital engineering provider with nearshore delivery capabilities and enterprise AI/data practices. Overlaps with Distillery on staff augmentation, agile delivery, and digital transformation.
• Globant: Large LATAM-rooted digital transformation and IT services firm offering nearshore staff augmentation, agile teams, and AI/data engineering. Broader portfolio than Distillery but directly comparable on nearshore delivery and enterprise AI services.

Emerging players

• Turing: AI-powered tech talent platform matching vetted remote engineers (including LATAM) with enterprises. Emerging peer on AI-driven developer sourcing and remote-first staff augmentation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/DistilleryTech
• Facebookfacebook.com/DistilleryTech
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/Distillery-Tech
• Instagraminstagram.com/Distillery_Tech

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Distillery