OCTOO AI Independent AI Lab

About

One person. Many agents.

I’m Sven Lehnert. I have been building software since 2008, founded ThemeKraft and sold it. Today I build AI systems full-time, from Gran Canaria and on GPU servers in Germany.

Founder

Sven Lehnert

Now
OCTOO AI · independent AI lab
Before
Founded ThemeKraft in 2011 and ran it as CEO
Stage
Speaker at WordPress conferences, including WordCamp Europe
Open web
@svenl77 · plugin and theme developer, BuddyPress contributor
Based
Gran Canaria, Spain

Talks and panels on WordPress.tv

My roots are in the open web: plugins, themes and communities that people run on their own servers. Today I build real AI tools: systems that run and decide on their own, built with AI and more and more by AI.

Open source taught me a simple lesson: what you can run yourself, you are free to change, move or keep. I want the same for AI: a home for independent AI in Europe, with uncensored models in the right hands and strong infrastructure behind them.

For a few selected projects I build these systems for others too, for example private AI on your own dedicated server.

Sven Lehnert speaking on stage, with a headset microphone and a clicker in his hand.
WordCamp Europe 2018 in Belgrade: my lightning talk on user-generated content. Photo: Ivan Gatic / WordCamp Europe, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)

Timeline

  1. 2008 →

    Open web

    WordPress, BuddyPress, plugins and themes: software people run on their own servers.

  2. 2011 →

    ThemeKraft

    Founded the company and led it as CEO. Later sold it to go all-in on AI.

  3. 2023

    First AI systems

    In July 2023 DataTaxer went into production, reading tax documents with language models. In 2024 OCTOO AI started as an AI agency.

  4. 2026

    The lab

    From describing what AI could do to running it: self-hosted models, autonomous decisions, autonomous media.

How I work

  • Small and focused.

    No large team, no investors. AI coding agents write, review and run much of the code. I set the direction and approve everything that cannot be undone.

  • Evidence over announcements.

    A system is real when it runs. Until then I call it what it is: experimental or in development.

  • Europe, on purpose.

    Sovereignty needs a place. Our AI runs on GPU servers at Hetzner in Germany, and I work from Gran Canaria, Spain.

See the lab Get in touch