Enterprise Weekly #522: Agentic Systems, Work-Bench Investment Themes, and More
Work-Bench is a $160M enterprise software VC firm leading Seed rounds. If you are or know anyone thinking about founding an enterprise software startup — we’d love to meet! Please reach out to chat. 📩
Hot off the press this week is Priyanka’s Agentic Systems newsletter 🔥
In it, she curates the most impactful product rollouts, platform enhancements, and research breakthroughs powering AI agents in production. New capabilities for real-time monitoring, durable context storage, enforceable guardrails, and reusable architecture templates have transformed POCs into production-grade applications. The space is moving incredibly fast and we’re excited to see how teams are building with these tools.
If you’re a technical founder noodling on how to take your AI agent from prototype to production, reach out to Priyanka to connect.
We have even more ideas cooking this summer and the Work-Bench team is diving deep into conversations with founders and operators tackling some of enterprise software’s most urgent challenges. In the spirit of building in public, here are a few key themes currently on our minds:
Agentic systems spanning compute, storage, security, and identity & access management
New models in regulated industries like healthcare, financial services, defense, and more
Vertical SaaS in nonobvious markets that expand with added software efficiency
Security & oversight of high velocity human and agent-driven development
Workforce fraud detection and insider threat management
SMB security platforms and cyber-insurance
Infrastructure for the new enterprise
Bot management for AI agents
AI for cyber threat intelligence
If you’re building in or thinking deeply about any of these areas, get in touch with us!
And finally, we’re thrilled to be hosting our next New York Enterprise Tech Meetup on July 15th.
🔥 Join us in NYC for a tactical discussion on go-to-market in the AI era, featuring two incredible founders navigating markets where product, positioning, and customer expectations are shifting faster than ever:
→ Merrill Lutsky, CEO of Graphite - AI Code review platform (Series B)
→ Brad Menezes, CEO of Superblocks - Automation platform (Series A)
Sign up here to join!
📚 Read more news:
WSJ: Oracle Gives U.S. Government Discount on Cloud and Software
CNBC: Goldman Sachs tests agentic AI to automate software engineering
Newcomer: AI Exuberance Brings Debt into Play as Markets Charge Ahead
VentureBeat: $8.8 trillion protected: How one CISO went from ‘that’s BS’ to bulletproof in 90 days
Associated Press: Nvidia is again Wall Street’s most valuable company. How it got there, by the numbers
🧵 Read more threads:
Company: Rebar
Role: Customer Success Manager
Technology: AI Estimator for HVAC Reps
Funding: Stealth 👀
🌟 Company of the Week 🌟
Cekura raises $2.4M led by YC, Flex Capital, and Others
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Seed • San Francisco, CA
Co-Founders: Sidhant Kabra, Tarush Agarwal
OllyGarden raises $1.6M led by DIG Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Pre-Seed • Berlin, Germany
Oraion raises $3.5M led by Studio VC
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Pre-Seed • London, UK
Tandem raises $3.8M led by Tribe Capital
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • Paris, France
ZeroEntropy raises $4.2M led by Initialized Capital
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • San Francisco, CA
OneText raises $4.5M led by Khosla Ventures, Coatue, Citi Ventures, and Others
Sales / Marketing • Seed • San Francisco, CA
Zango raises $4.8M led by Nexus Venture Partners
Collaboration / Productivity • Seed • London, UK
Aircon raises $5M led by Blumberg Capital and Las Olas VC
Future of Work • Seed • Dallas, TX
Blok raises $5M led by MaC Venture Capital
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Seed • San Francisco, CA
Pimloc raises $5M led by Amadeus Capital Partners and Edge Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Venture • London, UK
Argon AI raises $5.5M led by Crosslink Capital and Wireframe Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • New York, NY
Ryft raises $8M led by Index
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • New York, NY
Deeto raises $12.5M led by Jump Capital
Sales / Marketing • Series A • New York, NY
Gradient Labs raises $13M led by Redpoint Ventures
Sales / Marketing • Series A • London, UK
Cred raises $15M led by Defy.vc
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • San Francisco, CA
Remark raises $16M led by Inspired Capital
Sales / Marketing • Series A • Boston, MA
Sundial raises $16M led by GreatPoint Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series A • San Francisco, CA
GetWhy raises $20M led by PeakSpan Capital
Sales / Marketing • Series A • Copenhagen, Denmark
Nominal raises $20M led by Next47
Future of Work • Series A • New York, NY
Parspec raises $20M led by Threshold Ventures
Future of Work • Series A • San Mateo, CA
Vellum raises $20M led by Leaders Fund
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series A • New York, NY
Tailor raises $22M led by JIC Venture Growth Investments, New Enterprise Associates and Others
Sales / Marketing • Series A • San Francisco, CA
Emerald AI raises $24.5M led by Radical Ventures
Collaboration / Productivity • Seed • Washington, DC
Wonderful raises $34M led by Index Ventures
Future of Work • Seed • Tel Aviv, Israel
Campfire raises $35M led by Accel
Collaboration / Productivity • Series A • San Francisco, CA
Tandem Health raises $50M led by Kinnevik
Future of Work • Series A • Stockholm, Sweden
Levelpath raises $55M led by Battery Ventures
Collaboration / Productivity • Series B • San Francisco, CA
Genesis AI raises $105M led by Eclipse and Khosla Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • Paris, France
Talon.One raises $135M led by Silversmith Capital Partners and Meritech Capital
Sales / Marketing • Venture • Berlin, Germany
MaintainX raises $150M led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Bain Capital
Future of Work • Series D • San Francisco, CA
Cato Networks raises $359M led by Vitruvian Partners and ION Crossover Partners
Risk / Security • Series G • Tel Aviv, Israel
Clio acquires vLex for $1B in Cash and Stock
Future of Work • Acquisition • Miami, FL
Grammarly acquires Superhuman for an Undisclosed Amount
Collaboration / Productivity • Acquisition • San Francisco, CA
IFS acquires TheLoops for an Undisclosed Amount
Collaboration / Productivity • Acquisition • San Mateo, CA
Pendo acquires Forwrd.ai for an Undisclosed Amount
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Acquisition • Tel Aviv, Israel
Secur-Serv acquires Arrowhead Technologies for an Undisclosed Amount
Risk / Security • Acquisition • Fort Worth, TX