Key Takeaways
- • Cuesta Partners, a Chicago-based AI and data technology firm, announced a strategic partnership with Keboola, a self-service data operations platform, to offer Strata, an AI foundation built on Keboola technology, to mid-market and private-equity-backed companies in the United States.
- • Cuesta reported that in an internal test of 30 questions, Strata answered all 30 correctly, while ChatGPT and Claude, connected to the same files, passed 59 to 78 percent of questions.
- • The partners' stated goals are to bring Strata to Cuesta's U.S. mid-market clients and to offer a repeatable rollout model for private equity firms, starting with a short portfolio review and deploying company by company on separate instances with segregated data.
- • Cuesta, founded in 2019 and with more than 175 employees across the United States, Canada, and Colombia, is backed as a strategic investment by Riveron, which was itself backed by Kohlberg in 2026.
- • A live online introduction of Strata is scheduled for November 10, 2026, at 11:00 AM ET, with Riley Scott and Pavel Doležal presenting.
Summary
Cuesta Partners ("Cuesta"), a Chicago-based AI and data technology firm, announced a strategic partnership with Keboola, a self-service data operations platform, according to a Business Wire release. Under the partnership, Cuesta now offers Strata, an AI foundation built on Keboola technology, to mid-market and private-equity-backed companies in the United States. Strata is designed to let AI agents work from a company's own knowledge, answering questions, preparing analyses and handling routine tasks, with every result traceable to its source. It connects CRM, ERP and finance systems with files, slides and email, with governed access controls.
The companies position the product as addressing the gap between widely available AI models and the data infrastructure around them, including figures spread across ERPs and spreadsheets, institutional knowledge held by a few individuals, and AI pilots that fail to scale. Cuesta said it deployed Strata internally first, enabling every employee to sign in within eight days. In an internal Cuesta test of 30 questions, Strata answered all 30 correctly, while ChatGPT and Claude, connected to the same files, passed 59 to 78 percent. These are company-reported results from a single internal test.
Riley Scott, Co-Founder and Partner of Cuesta Partners, said the firm wanted to validate the approach internally before recommending it to clients. Pavel Doležal, Co-Founder and CEO of Keboola, said the value lies in the context layer underneath AI models, namely a company's own data defined consistently, with clear access and cost rules. Keboola contributes the data platform; Cuesta contributes its work with CFOs, its understanding of how businesses operate, and implementation support including defining data governance, building initial use cases and training teams. Initial projects focus on AI-native commercial operations spanning quote-to-cash, CRM, finance and shared files.
The partners have two stated objectives: extending Strata to Cuesta's U.S. mid-market clients, and creating a repeatable model for private equity firms. Under that model, a fund would begin with a short portfolio review and then roll out the approach company by company, with each portfolio company operating its own instance and data kept separate. Cuesta and Keboola will host a 30-minute live online session on November 10, 2026, at 11:00 AM ET. Strata is available now to U.S. companies through Cuesta Partners.
The companies position the product as addressing the gap between widely available AI models and the data infrastructure around them, including figures spread across ERPs and spreadsheets, institutional knowledge held by a few individuals, and AI pilots that fail to scale. Cuesta said it deployed Strata internally first, enabling every employee to sign in within eight days. In an internal Cuesta test of 30 questions, Strata answered all 30 correctly, while ChatGPT and Claude, connected to the same files, passed 59 to 78 percent. These are company-reported results from a single internal test.
Riley Scott, Co-Founder and Partner of Cuesta Partners, said the firm wanted to validate the approach internally before recommending it to clients. Pavel Doležal, Co-Founder and CEO of Keboola, said the value lies in the context layer underneath AI models, namely a company's own data defined consistently, with clear access and cost rules. Keboola contributes the data platform; Cuesta contributes its work with CFOs, its understanding of how businesses operate, and implementation support including defining data governance, building initial use cases and training teams. Initial projects focus on AI-native commercial operations spanning quote-to-cash, CRM, finance and shared files.
The partners have two stated objectives: extending Strata to Cuesta's U.S. mid-market clients, and creating a repeatable model for private equity firms. Under that model, a fund would begin with a short portfolio review and then roll out the approach company by company, with each portfolio company operating its own instance and data kept separate. Cuesta and Keboola will host a 30-minute live online session on November 10, 2026, at 11:00 AM ET. Strata is available now to U.S. companies through Cuesta Partners.
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