Sierra, an artificial intelligence startup founded by former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor and Google veteran Clay Bavor, has raised 350 million dollars in its latest funding round. The round was led by existing investor Greenoaks Capital and confirmed in a company blog post. The new investment pushes Sierra’s valuation to 10 billion dollars, marking a significant milestone for the young company.
Launched in early 2024, Sierra helps enterprises build AI-powered customer service agents. Within just 18 months of operations, it has already secured hundreds of clients including SoFi, Ramp, and Brex, establishing itself as one of the fastest growing players in the enterprise AI sector.
With the fresh funding, Sierra has now raised a total of 635 million dollars. Previous rounds included 110 million dollars in February last year led by Sequoia and Benchmark, and another 175 million dollars in October last year led by Greenoaks. Other investors backing the startup include ICONIQ and Thrive Capital.
The leadership behind Sierra brings extensive experience in creating transformative technologies. Bret Taylor, co-founder of Sierra, had earlier co-founded Quip, which was acquired by Salesforce for 750 million dollars. He also played key roles at Google and Facebook, where he was instrumental in launching Google Maps and later served as chair of Twitter’s board during its takeover. His co-founder Clay Bavor was responsible for leading Gmail and Google Drive at Google, among other consumer products.
Alongside its funding growth, Sierra is investing in talent development. Earlier this week, Taylor announced the second year of the company’s APX program, a rotational initiative designed for recent computer science graduates. The program offers hands-on experience in both agent engineering and product management, with participants expected to contribute to multiple product launches in their very first year.
Taylor described the program as giving graduates “an irresponsible amount of responsibility,” reflecting the freedom he and Bavor experienced early in their own careers at Google. The initiative comes at a time when the global job market faces mounting challenges, and companies are rethinking workforce needs in light of advancements in artificial intelligence.
Sierra’s rapid rise, significant funding, and focus on nurturing fresh talent underline its ambition to play a leading role in shaping the future of AI in enterprise solutions.
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