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Despite some predictions about a slowdown in AI investing, investors are showing the same insatiable appetite for the sector they showed last year.
AI-enhanced work assistant and enterprise search startup Glean became the latest to hit it big, locking up a more than $200 million Series D at a $2.2 billion valuation in a round led by Kleiner Perkins and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
The Palo Alto, California-based startup hit unicorn status last May after raising a $100 million Series C led by Sequoia Capital.
The new round also included participation from existing investors Sequoia; new investors Coatue, Iconiq Growth, IVP, Latitude Capital and Adams Street; and strategic investors Capital One Ventures, Citi, Databricks Ventures and Workday Ventures.
Enterprise AI
Glean’s generative AI search tool connects with enterprise companies’ applications and databases, while also offering conversational AI assistants to help employees work.
The startup has nearly quadrupled its annual recurring revenue in the past year.
“We are at the beginning of one of the biggest transformations in technology; generative AI is an incredibly powerful technology that will unleash productivity and new efficiencies, but it must be applied in the right ways to be useful and safe in the enterprise,” said Arvind Jain, co-founder and CEO of Glean.
The round is just the latest giant AI-related raise as last year’s investor euphoria has clearly carried over to this year. Just last week it was reported China’s artificial intelligence startup Moonshot AI raised more than $1 billion in a funding round led by Alibaba Group Holding and HongShan, formerly Sequoia Capital China.
In addition, Sunnyvale, California-based AI and robotics startup Figure reportedly raised a huge $675 million round at a pre-money valuation of roughly $2 billion. Big-name investors in the round include Jeff Bezos’ Explore Investments and Nvidia among others.
Founded in 2019, Glean has raised $360 million, per the company.
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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