Sierra, a US-based conversational artificial intelligence (AI) startup, has secured $175m in a funding round, catapulting the company’s valuation to $4.5bn.
The investment round was spearheaded by Greenoaks Capital and saw contributions from ICONIQ and Thrive Capital, marking a valuation leap from Sierra’s previous $1bn in January 2024.
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Co-founded in 2023 by Bret Taylor, former Salesforce Co-CEO and OpenAI board member, and Clay Bavor, ex-Google Labs lead, Sierra is developing AI agents designed for enhanced customer interactions.
The company’s clientele includes names such as ADT, Sonos, and Weight Watchers.
In a CNBC interview, Taylor expressed his vision for Sierra’s technology, stating, “We think every company in the world, whether it is a technology company or a 150-year-old company like ADT, can benefit from AI, and the technology is ready right now. We want to enable Sierra to address that market, and that means expanding internationally and to other industries.”
Sierra’s approach allows clients to tailor the AI agent’s personality to align with their brand identity.
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By GlobalDataFor instance, clothing brand Chubbies has adopted a sarcastic tone with a youthful-sounding AI named Duncan Smothers, while some luxury brands prefer a British accent for a more serious demeanour.
“We really think that your conversational AI agent should be not only transactional, but a brand ambassador,” Taylor said.
“It is actually something that is a statement of your values. So do you want to be sarcastic? Do you want to use emoji? Do you want it to sound like text messaging, or do you want it to sound like a lawyer?”
Sierra’s technology operates on a “constellation” of models, as described by founders Bavor and Taylor.
It relies on a primary model for the bulk of the work, supported by a secondary “supervisor” model to enhance reliability and accuracy.
The company currently utilises large language models from various sources, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta.
This funding news comes amidst a wave of AI developments in Silicon Valley, with OpenAI recently raising funds at a staggering $157bn valuation, and Perplexity aiming for a $9bn valuation in its ongoing funding round, as confirmed by a source to CNBC.
