Valued at $4.5 billion, why is the AI ​​Agent company co-founded by OpenAI and Google so powerful?

"Industry Observer" is our column for cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, XR, Metaverse and Web3, mainly sharing the stories of emerging companies or entrepreneurs in these fields. As an AI customer service company co-founded by Bret Taylor, chairman of the board of directors of OpenAI, and Clay Bavor, a former Google executive, Sierra has not only attracted industry attention in terms of technological innovation, but also raised $175 million in the latest round of financing, with a valuation soaring to $4.5 billion. What is the magic of Sierra that has become the darling of the capital market? The following is our 40th issue, enjoy below.

The market value of AI customer service may be greater than we think. The Philippines, the "world call center", has generated more than $38 billion in revenue in the telephone customer service industry this year. As a leading AI customer service company, Sierra is highly regarded by investors from all walks of life.

01.1 minute project overview

1. Project name: Sierra

2. Founding date: 2023

3. Product introduction:

Sierra's product is a conversational AI customer service platform designed to provide enterprises with customized customer experience solutions.

4. Founding team:

• Bret Taylor: Former Salesforce co-CEO, OpenAI board chairman

• Clay Bavor: Worked at Google for 18 years, founded AI lab and workspace

5. Financing:

• In February 2024, Sequoia Capital and Benchmark led the investment of $110 million, with a valuation of $1 billion;

• In October 2024, Greenoaks Capital led the investment, and ICONIQ and Thrive Capital participated in the investment of $175 million;

• Currently, the cumulative financing amount has reached $285 million, with a valuation of $4.5 billion.

02. AI Agent Company Founded by Tech Giants

Sierra is an AI startup focused on enterprise solutions, located in the heart of Silicon Valley. From $1 billion in February to $4.5 billion today, Sierra's valuation has increased 3.5 times in just a few months.

Recently, Sierra completed another round of $175 million in financing, led by Greenoaks Capital, with participation from ICONIQ and Thrive Capital. How did Sierra achieve such a large and fast financing scale?

Sierra's story began with two heavyweights in the tech world - Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor.

Bret Taylor, the former co-CEO of Salesforce, is not only well-known in Silicon Valley, but also the chairman of the board of directors of OpenAI. Taylor's footprints are all over every corner of the tech world, from the creation of Google Maps to the chairman of Twitter, almost leading the transformation of the industry.

Clay Bavor, a senior executive who has worked at Google for nearly 20 years and has led cutting-edge projects such as virtual reality and Google Labs, has undoubtedly injected strong momentum into Sierra with his innovative spirit and deep understanding of technology.

With these two tech giants working together, the birth of Sierra is not so surprising.

Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor once said: "Our common vision is to use artificial intelligence technology to provide companies with a new customer service experience - a more natural, more empathetic and more personalized conversational AI agent."

"This AI agent can not only answer customer questions, but also solve practical problems, from processing exchanges to renewing subscriptions. "

The two founders also wrote on the official website: "Elevate your customer experience with AI." (Use AI to improve your customer experience.)

Today, this is more than just a slogan, but also Sierra's commitment to every customer. Whether it is helping customers solve complex problems in real time or quickly adapting to business changes, Sierra's AI agents can always provide strong support.

Sierra's success lies not only in the advancement of technology, but also in their deep understanding of customer needs and keen grasp of market trends.

They know that in this rapidly changing world, companies need more than just an AI that can answer questions, but an intelligent partner that can represent the brand, convey value, and establish real connections with customers.

03. All-round conversational AI platform

Sierra's core product is an innovative conversational AI platform, which not only appears as a simple chatbot, but also an intelligent agent that can understand, predict and take action.

“Available at any time

As a professional customer service platform, Sierra’s AI agent is online 24/7. Not only can it quickly answer customers’ questions, but it can also show a deep understanding and empathy for customers in its answers.

From simple inquiries to complex personalized questions, Sierra has greatly improved the quality of customer experience.

“Real-time support for customers

Sierra’s AI agent can handle a variety of complex issues, including but not limited to handling exchanges, arranging deliveries, and renewing subscriptions.

By integrating with systems of record such as order management systems and CRM, Sierra’s AI agents can operate directly in the background to provide customers with a seamless service experience.

“Quick Adaptation and Continuous Improvement

When the business changes, Sierra’s AI platform can also respond quickly, continuously improving the customer experience through analysis and reporting tools. This means that over time, Sierra’s AI agents will become smarter and more able to meet customer needs.

“Opening a new way to communicate

In October this year, Sierra launched a revolutionary feature - AI voice function. Customers can call AI customer service directly, just like talking to a real person.

The launch of the voice function is also another major breakthrough in the field of AI customer service by Sierra. Compared with real people, Sierra’s AI agents are always available, infinitely patient, and can reason, predict and act in real time.

“Customized AI Agents

In addition to the above functions, another notable feature of Sierra is its high degree of customization.

Sierra allows each customer to customize the personality of the AI ​​agent according to their brand image. This means that whether it is a clothing brand that pursues youth and fashion, or a luxury brand that pursues professionalism and high-end, Sierra can provide AI customer service that matches its brand tone.

After all, AI customer service is not only used as a trading tool, but also represents the corresponding brand image.

Therefore, it is very important for Sierra's AI agent to be able to convey the brand's values ​​and ideas.

“Avoid the "illusion" problem

Currently, there is a most common problem in the field of AI customer service - "illusion deception", which means that AI may make up answers when it is not sure how to answer.

Sierra has also made some functional improvements and risk avoidance, that is, through the built-in supervision system to ensure the accuracy of AI customer service answers, real-time evaluation of topics and keywords in the conversation, to ensure that inappropriate content can be identified and blocked in time.

04. Self-development and industry competition

Currently, Sierra has cooperated with leading brands in multiple industries, such as ADT, Sonos, Weight Watchers, SiriusXM, OluKai, etc., and has completed a total of 100,000 customer conversations.

Sierra's success relies heavily on its technological innovation, and will continue to do so in the future. The company's use of the "constellation" model and "supervisor" technology, as well as its reliance on large language models, are key to staying competitive.

This year, Sierra has adopted another major innovation - the performance-based billing model.

Unlike traditional software subscription fees or usage-based billing, "performance-based billing" means that customers only pay when the problem is actually solved. This model not only provides greater value to customers, but also establishes a win-win partnership.

Sierra's payment method is in stark contrast to many existing SaaS providers.

Under the traditional SaaS model, customers often need to pay for resources that exceed actual needs. Sierra's model is more flexible and fair, and in the long run, this model of paying for results will become more and more popular in the market.

Sierra's future development blueprint is undoubtedly grand.

Sierra's co-founder Bret Taylor mentioned in an interview with CNBC that they hope to enable Sierra to serve the global market and expand into other industries - sales, marketing, human resources, etc. This cross-industry application will also bring new growth opportunities for Sierra.

With the advancement of globalization and the acceleration of digital transformation, Sierra's internationalization pace will bring it new growth points.

According to relevant statistics, it is expected that in the next five years, AI will replace a large number of call center jobs worldwide. With Sierra in the lead and Salesforce and Microsoft in the rear, the AI ​​customer service market is welcoming unprecedented development opportunities.

Brent Leary, an analyst at CRM Essentials, once expressed some opinions on this: "Sierra faces great difficulties in competing with giants like Salesforce. Although Sierra has sufficient funds, its scale is far from comparable to Salesforce."

In this regard, Ravi Gupta, a partner of Sequoia Capital who led the investment in Sierra, said: "I am very confident in Sierra's technology and potential. Sierra should have no rivals in AI customer service that acts as a 'brand ambassador'."

As Ravi Gupta emphasized, Sierra's leading position in "brand ambassador"-style AI customer service shows its potential to surpass its peers. Looking to the future, driven by innovative technology and capital support, Sierra's subsequent development is worth looking forward to.

Reference link:

1.https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/28/bret-taylors-ai-startup-sierra-valued-at-4point5-billion-in-funding.html

2.https://sierra.ai/

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