Enterprise Weekly #512: Frontier Firms, Nvidia's NeMo, and more
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As AI tools grow more powerful, we’re closely watching how human–agent collaboration is set to reshape organizational dynamics.
This week, Microsoft released its 2025 Work Trend Index, spotlighting the rise of the “Frontier Firm”—organizations built around AI-powered intelligence and human-agent collaboration. As AI transforms roles, automates tasks, and drives new levels of productivity, Frontier Firms are reimagining the org chart altogether. According to the report, 46% of leaders say they’re already using agents to fully automate workstreams, and 82% expect to expand their workforce with digital labor over the next 12–18 months.
In this new reality, it’s possible that every employee is on the path to becoming an “agent manager”
Echoing Microsoft’s report, Box CEO Aaron Levie has been outspoken about the potential for AI agents and what it truly means to build an AI-first company:
“Almost everything about operations will change in an AI-First Enterprise… the leverage that employees get, the kind of long tail work we can finally take on… expectations for speed of decision making and execution go up… the employee using AI will outrun the employee not using AI.”
“Most business models will shift… especially anyone building directly in AI is going to be in the business of selling outcomes… our technology is actually bringing along the labor with it, which dramatically expands the TAM… and changes how we sell.”
To reach a world where AI-human collaboration is widely adopted, we’ll still need to build the underlying infrastructure to power agents in a reliable way. Last week, Priyanka shared her research on the rise of agentic systems and how scaling applications could lead to infrastructure standards.
In line with this thinking, Nvidia made headlines this week with the launch of Nvidia NeMo Microservices, a suite of tools designed to help enterprises build deeply integrated, continuously learning AI agents. These agents connect directly with internal systems and evolve in real-time, enabling what Nvidia calls a “data flywheel” that drives accuracy, relevance, and autonomy.
Companies like Amdocs, AT&T, and Cisco are already harnessing NeMo for a range of use cases, from document processing to AI-assisted software development. While many organizations are still weighing the build-versus-buy decision, one thing is clear: we’re rapidly approaching a new era of true collaboration between humans and intelligent agents.
If you’re building or exploring the world of AI agent applications or infrastructure, we’d love to meet you. As a reminder, we lead seed rounds in enterprise software companies and love helping founders validate the market opportunity for their ideas. Reach out to us here ✉️
📚 Read more news:
Bloomberg: Microsoft to Contract Out More Software Selling in the Age of AI
TechCrunch: Windsurf slashes prices as competition with Cursor heats up
VentureBeat: Former DeepSeeker and collaborators release new method for training reliable AI agents: RAGEN
🧵 Read more (th)reads:
🎙️ Jessica Lin: The Value of Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs)
Vlad Ionescu: Launching Earthly Lunar - Monitoring for the SDLC
Jason Lemkin: The Problem with “Small But Mighty” AI Start-Ups
Company: Authzed
Role: Technical Product Manager
Technology: Permissions Database
Funding: $16M from Work-Bench, General Catalyst
🌟 Company of the Week 🌟
Spur raises $4.5M led by First Round Capital and Pear
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Seed • New York, NY
Co-founders: Sneha Sivakumar, Anushka Nijhawan
Tella raises $2.1M led by Gradient Ventures
Collaboration / Productivity • Seed • Remote
Recee raises $4M led by Heavybit
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • San Francisco, CA
Kenzo Security raises $4.5M led by The General Partnership and Michael Coates
Risk / Security • Seed • San Francisco, CA
Cloud Capital raises $5.4M led by Backed Ventures and Middlegame Ventures
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Seed • San Francisco, CA
Amplifier Security raises $5.6M led by Cota Capital and WestWave Capital
Risk / Security • Pre-Seed • Atlanta, GA
Brandlight raises $5.8M led by Cardumen Capital and G20 Ventures
Sales / Marketing • Pre-Seed • Tel Aviv, Israel
Adaptive raises $7M led by Pebbledbed
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • San Francisco, CA
Cakewalk raises $7.5M led by Kindred Capital and Vertex Ventures
Risk / Security • Seed • Berlin, Germany
Terra Security raises $8M led by SYN Ventures and FXP Ventures
Risk / Security • Seed • Tel Aviv, Israel
Ascertain raises $10M led by Deerfield Management
Future of Work • Series A • New York, NY
VanishID raises $10M led by Dell Technologies Capital
Risk / Security • Venture • Chevy, MD
Scamnetic raises $13M led by Roo Capital
Risk / Security • Series A • Tampa, FL
Lace AI raises $14M led by Bek Ventures
Sales / Marketing • Seed • Mountain View, CA
Ravenna raises $15M led by Madrona and Khosla Ventures
Future of Work • Pre-Seed & Seed • Seattle, WA
Miggo Security raises $17M led by SYN Ventures
Risk / Security • Series A • New York, NY
Deep Infra raises $18M led by Felicis and George Harik
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series A • Palo Alto, CA
Salsa raises $20M led by Altos Ventures
HR Tech • Series A • New York, NY
Reco raises $25M led by Insight Partners, Angular Ventures and Others
Risk / Security • Venture • Miami, FL
Listen Labs raises $27M led by Sequoia Capital
Future of Work • Seed & Series A • San Francisco, CA
Cynomi raises $37M led by Insight Partners and Entrée Capital
Risk / Security • Series B • Tel Aviv, Israel
Ocient raises $42.1M led by Allstate Strategic Ventures, Blue Bear Capital, and Solidigm
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series B • Chicago, IL
Sentra raises $50M led by Key 1 Capital
Risk / Security • Series B • New York, NY
Endor Labs raises $93M led by DFJ Growth
Risk / Security • Series B • Palo Alto, CA
Supabase raises $200M led by Accel
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Series D • San Francisco, CA
Chainguard raises $356M led by Kleiner Perkins and IVP
Risk / Security • Series D • Kirkland, WA
Datadog acquires Metaplane for an Undisclosed Amount
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Acquisition • Boston, MA
Intuit acquires GoCo for an Undisclosed Amount
HR Tech • Acquisition • The Woodlands, TX
LaunchDarkly acquires Highlight for an Undisclosed Amount
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Acquisition • San Francisco, CA
Socket acquires Coana for an Undisclosed Amount
Risk / Security • Acquisition • Aarhus, Denmark
Tonic.ai acquires Fabricate for an Undisclosed Amount
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Acquisition • Ellicott City, MD