Enterprise Weekly #524: Lovable’s Lightning in a Bottle, ServiceNow’s Dominance, 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. 📩
This week, Lovable hit an astonishing milestone: $100M in ARR just 8 months after launch, making it the fastest-growing software company in history. The previous record holder? Cursor, which crossed $100M ARR in just 12 months. Two of the fastest-growing SaaS businesses ever are scaling right now, both built on the back of AI.
The fact that two of the fastest growing software companies are accelerating in real-time says something significant about the state of our industry, both regarding the technology and the business implications of it. What we’re seeing isn’t hype, but real, organic, unstoppable demand. When the product experience feels magical and the universe of potential users expands from “developers” to anyone with intent, TAMs don’t just grow — they explode. Lovable’s superpower isn’t just AI; it’s abstraction. Users don’t need to know how to build, they just need to want to.
The implications for the application layer are enormous. Business users are newly receptive to software that feels like a cheat code. The best tools are those that aren’t just marginally better, but 10x better. The proof? In their recent earnings call, ServiceNow mentioned that they have 450,000 agents running inside customer workflows, performing 80% of the work in supported functions. Incumbents are charging ahead, and the pace is only accelerating.
The competitive pressures of the AI market make it such that any company not integrating AI into their product will be left behind. Agentic software is no longer optional, but strategic. Teams building into this wave need to match the moment: ship constantly, react instantly, and meet the unmet (and unspoken) needs of their users. The next great enterprise companies won’t just be fast; they’ll be inevitable 💪
Lastly, we’re excited to announce that we’ve led Paratus’s $2.5M Pre-Seed round! 🥳
Paratus is transforming how military units prepare for their most critical missions. Today’s readiness systems are fragmented and manual. Paratus replaces them with an AI-native operating system that eliminates administrative burdens, enables real-time task collaboration, and accelerates mission decision-making.
We believe Paratus is building the foundational platform that millions of service members will rely on to deploy with confidence.
They're just getting started & hiring engineers!
📚 Read more news:
WSJ: Google Revenue Soars on AI Boom, and Investors Eye Spending Surge
Wired: Cursor’s New Bugbot Is Designed to Save Vibe Coders From Themselves
VentureBeat: Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B-Instruct launches and it ‘might be the best coding model yet’
TechCrunch: Hundreds of organizations breached by SharePoint mass-hacks
🧵 Read more threads:
Company: Artian AI
Role: Software Engineer - AI/ML
Technology: Multi-Agent System for Financial Services
Funding: $8M from Work-Bench, Foxe Capital, and more
🌟 Company of the Week 🌟
Starseer raises $2M led by Gula Tech Adventures
Risk / Security - Seed - Knoxville, TN
Co-Founders: Tim Schulz, Carl Hurd
Chipp raises $2M led by Homegrown Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • Fargo, ND
Dockware raises $2.5M led by Zenda VC
Future of Work • Seed • Tulsa, Oklahoma
OpenLaw raises $3.5M led by Flint Capital and Slauson & Co.
Future of Work • Seed • San Francisco, CA
CandorIQ raises $4.8M led by Array Ventures
HR Tech • Seed • San Francisco, CA
Olto raises $5.1M led by Nexus Venture Partners and The General Partnership
Sales / Marketing • Pre-Seed • San Francisco, CA
Lyra raises $6M led by 468 Capital
Sales / Marketing • Seed • San Francisco, CA
Hyper raises $6.3M led by Eniac Ventures
Future of Work • Seed • San Francisco, CA
Daylight Security raises $7M led by Bain Capital Ventures
Risk / Security • Seed • Tel Aviv, Israel
Vaudit raises $7.3M led by Mucker Capital
Future of Work • Seed • San Francisco, CA
Octup raises $12M led by Shine Capital and JAL Ventures
Future of Work • Seed • Tel Aviv, Israel
Scrunch AI raises $15M led by Decibel
Sales / Marketing • Series A • Salt Lake City, UT
Composio raises $25M led by Lightspeed Venture Partners
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Series A • San Francisco, CA
Paddle raises $25M led by CIBC Innovation Banking
Future of Work • Debt Financing • London, UK
Delve raises $32M led by Insight Partners
Risk / Security • Series A • San Francisco, CA
BetterComp raises $33M led by Ten Coves Capital
HR Tech • Series A • San Francisco, CA
april raises $38M led by QED Investors
Future of Work • Series B • New York, NY
Ashby raises $50M led by Mark McLaughlin at Alkeon and Lachy Groom
HR Tech • Series D • San Francisco, CA
Reka raises $110M led by NVIDIA and Snowflake
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series B • Sunnyvale, CA
HeroDevs raises $125M led by PSG
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Private Equity • Sandy, UT
Armada raises $131M led by Pinegrove, Veriten, and Glade Brook
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Venture • San Francisco, CA
Vanta raises $150M led by Wellington Management
Risk / Security • Series D • San Francisco, CA
Xelix raises $160M led by Insight Partners
Future of Work • Series B • New York, NY