What BLOCKS does

Blocks Holding GmbH is a Berlin-based, privately held cloud cost optimization company operating as an authorized AWS Solution Provider with Cloud Financial Operations Competency. Its core product, the Blocks Platform, aggregates the AWS spend of a curated community of 100+ growth-stage companies through AWS Billing Transfer and resells that capacity under a group-buying model, guaranteeing members a minimum 20% reduction on their AWS bill. The company monetizes via a success-based fee on Realized Savings from managed Savings Plans and Reserved Instances (up to 36 months), a one-off-action fee equal to 30 days of trailing savings on each completed optimization, and the spread between AWS reseller pricing and the Group Buying Discount passed through to members; contracts are monthly, terminable on 30 days' notice, and exclude consumers under German law.

The technical centerpiece is "Major Tom," Blocks' proprietary agentic DevOps AI engine, which continuously scans member AWS environments, identifies idle and wasteful resources (e.g., NAT gateways, EBS volumes, load balancers) and security risks (e.g., EC2 SSH exposed to the internet), generates Terraform/CloudFormation remediations, verifies the fixes after members apply them via Slack, and responds to natural-language operational queries such as load-balancer P95 latency. Member access is configured via a read-only AWS IAM role with no infrastructure changes required at signup, and all optimization recommendations and approvals flow through a Slack-based human-in-the-loop workflow.

Blocks was founded in 2025, operates from Berlin (Kurfürstendamm 207–208, 10719 Berlin) under Geschäftsführer Dr. Oliver Merkel and Dr. Andreas Schroeter, and as of April 2026 had closed a $6,000,000 funding round led by Speedinvest with participation from Caesar Ventures. The company is actively scaling, with seven open senior engineering and commercial roles in Berlin and ongoing investment in the AI/LLM engineering function that underpins Major Tom. Distribution is exclusively direct-to-customer via the blocks.cloud website, combining self-serve savings estimation with a sales-led demo conversion, and the customer base is restricted to legal entities and entrepreneurs (excluding consumers) under GDPR-governed EU/EEA operations.

Name

BLOCKS

Legal name

Blocks Holding GmbH

Website

https://blocks.cloud

Company type

Private

Founded year

2025

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Blocks is a Berlin-based authorized AWS reseller and cloud cost optimization platform serving growth-stage AWS-native companies. Its agentic DevOps AI engine ("Major Tom") autonomously identifies cloud waste, manages Savings Plans and Reserved Instances, and surfaces security remediations via Slack and Terraform under a success-based fee on realized savings.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cloud Cost Optimization (FinOps)

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518210)

akta.pro primary industry

FinOps for Platform & DevOps (cost governance/optimization) (BPAEAKAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Managed DevOps / Platform Operations (Run & Operate) (BPAEAKAO), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (HDABAHAA)

Keywords

• AWS cost optimization
• Cloud cost management
• FinOps platform
• Agentic DevOps
• Group buying discounts

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Success Fee on Realized Savings: Recurring success-based fee charged on Realized Savings from ongoing optimizations (e.g., Savings Plans) at the rate specified in the Order Form. Applied to all new Commitments purchased and managed by Blocks and to any applied optimization recommendations.
2. One-Off-Action Success Fee: One-time success fee per One-Off-Action (e.g., stopping orphaned resources, rightsizing) equal to 30 days of trailing savings, fixed at completion of the action. Fees invoiced via Stripe (SEPA Direct Debit or Credit Card with 3% fee).
3. AWS Resale Margin (Group Buying Discount Spread): Blocks acts as authorized AWS reseller; AWS invoices Blocks directly and Blocks invoices Members. Blocks retains the spread between the discount obtained under AWS reseller/partner programs and the Group Buying Discount passed through to Members.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Blocks is an AWS cloud cost optimization platform that aggregates the AWS spend of 100+ growth-stage member companies to negotiate volume discounts through AWS reseller programs (Group Buying Discount), and runs an agentic DevOps AI engine called "Major Tom" that continuously scans member AWS environments to identify idle/wasteful resources, detect security misconfigurations, and propose verified Terraform fixes via Slack with human-in-the-loop approvals. The service guarantees at least 20% AWS bill reduction under a success-based fee on Realized Savings, with onboarding via read-only AWS IAM access and AWS Billing Transfer.

Product overview

Blocks is a unified AWS cost optimization platform composed of the core Blocks Platform (an authorized AWS reseller with Cloud Financial Operations Competency that aggregates member usage into AWS reseller pricing), the Group Buying Discount Program that pools member spend to secure volume discounts, and Major Tom — Blocks' agentic DevOps AI module that continuously governs cloud infrastructure, surfaces cost and security findings in Slack, generates and verifies Terraform fixes, and answers ad-hoc operational queries. The Blocks Platform handles billing transfer, Savings Plan / Reserved Instance purchasing, and tracking of One-Off-Actions such as deleting idle NAT gateways or tightening security groups, while Major Tom layers autonomous AI-driven optimization on top; both are delivered under a single success-fee pricing model on Realized Savings, targeting growth-stage AWS customers in Berlin-headquartered operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Major Tom: Agentic DevOps / AI DevOps engine by Blocks that continuously governs AWS infrastructure, identifies waste and security risks, and executes corrective actions under human-in-the-loop guardrails.

Products and services

• Blocks Platform Core platform that aggregates the AWS spend of 100+ growth-stage companies into AWS reseller pricing, handles AWS Billing Transfer onboarding, purchases and manages Savings Plans and Reserved Instances on member behalf, and tracks One-Off-Action savings on a Blocks Dashboard. Designed for growth-stage B2B customers running meaningful AWS workloads.
• Major Tom (Agentic DevOps) AI DevOps engineer that continuously scans AWS infrastructure, posts cost optimization recommendations and critical security alerts (e.g., EC2 SSH exposure) into Slack, generates Terraform HCL fixes, verifies applied changes, and answers ad-hoc operational queries such as P95 latency on load balancers. Operates under human-in-the-loop guardrails for critical actions.
• Group Buying Discount Program Commercial program that aggregates AWS spend across the Blocks member base to unlock volume-based discounts via AWS reseller/partner programs, passing a variable Group Buying Discount onto each member's Eligible Accounts (not a guaranteed entitlement; reviewed monthly).

Quantifiable outcome

• 20% guaranteed AWS bill reduction (typically more)
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability6 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered flagship / core, operational / core vendor, minor and operational.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)flagship / coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBlocks is an authorized AWS Solution Provider with Cloud Financial Operations Competency and AWS Select Tier Services Partner. Blocks acts as an independent contractor and authorized reseller: AWS invoices Blocks directly, and Blocks invoices Members for all AWS usage on Eligible Accounts while Members retain their direct customer relationship with AWS. AWS technical constraints govern the Billing Transfer process and Service Effective Date.
• Stripe (Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd.)operational / core vendorTechnology or IntegrationStripe serves as Blocks' payment processor for both SEPA Direct Debit and Credit Card (with 3% surcharge) payments. Stripe is listed as a third-party processor in the privacy policy; payment data is processed in the USA under Standard Contractual Clauses.
• heyData GmbHminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerheyData is Blocks' appointed Data Protection Officer and provides the GDPR compliance seal displayed in the website footer (Schützenstraße 5, 10117 Berlin).
• Slackoperational / core vendorTechnology or IntegrationSlack is used as Blocks' primary communication and engineering collaboration tool, and is also the surface where the Major Tom AI engine posts optimization recommendations to Members.
• GitHuboperational / core vendorTechnology or IntegrationGitHub is used by Blocks for engineering workflows and software development.
• Apache AirflowoperationalTechnology or IntegrationApache Airflow is used as Blocks' workflow-management platform for data pipelines.
• GrafanaoperationalTechnology or IntegrationGrafana is used for monitoring Blocks' internal infrastructure and data pipelines.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Vantage: Developer-focused cloud cost observability and FinOps platform with strong AWS support — directly comparable product surface (cost visibility, anomaly detection, commitment recommendations) without the group-buying reseller layer.
• Prosperops: Specializes in automated AWS commitment management (Savings Plans and Reserved Instances) with a success-based fee on realized savings — directly comparable to Blocks' Automated Commitment Purchase Manager and outcome-based pricing model.
• Spot.io (NetApp): Cloud infrastructure optimization platform with deep AWS commitment management and spot-instance automation; competes head-on with Blocks on AWS cost reduction and continuous optimization for growth-stage cloud-native customers.

Emerging players

• Kubecost: Kubernetes-specific cost monitoring and optimization tool now part of the CNCF ecosystem — adjacent technology overlap with Blocks for the Kubernetes slice of an AWS footprint.
• Zesty: AWS and Kubernetes cost optimization platform that automates commitment purchasing and rightsizing — comparable success-based commercial model and AWS-native focus, smaller scale than Blocks' group-buying approach.
• Cast AI: AI-driven Kubernetes cost optimization and automation platform; overlaps with Blocks on autonomous cloud-cost reduction but focuses on containerized workloads rather than the broader AWS footprint.

Broad incumbents

• CloudHealth by VMware (Broadcom): Established enterprise FinOps platform with multi-cloud cost management, governance, and optimization — overlapping capability set but aimed at large enterprises rather than Blocks' curated growth-company community.
• Yotascale: Cloud cost management and FinOps platform with commitment optimization and budgeting — incumbent in the same category as Blocks but without an agentic AI layer or group-buying aggregation.
• Apptio (IBM): IT financial management and FinOps suite inside IBM — covers cloud cost optimization as part of a broader ITFM portfolio; competes with Blocks in the AWS cost optimization category but without an agentic AI or group-buying differentiator.
• Densify: Cloud resource optimization (rightsizing and placement) for AWS, Azure, and GCP — broader portfolio play comparable to the optimization half of Blocks' Major Tom but without the AI agent and group-buying dimensions.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/blockscloud
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@BlocksCloud
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/blockscloud

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors2 records

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 BLOCKS