Sierra Brett Taylor reaches $100 million in less than two years

Sierra, a 21-month-old San Francisco-based startup that builds AI agents for enterprise customer service, announced Friday that it has reached $100 million in annual revenue run rate (ARR). The company’s rapid growth indicates that companies across industries are adopting AI agents.

The startup’s growth rate has surprised even its veteran co-founders, former Salesforce CEO Brett Taylor and longtime Google alumnus Clay Bavur, who wrote on their blog: “This is much faster than we expected.”

Sierra’s clients include technology companies such as Deliveroo, Discord, Ramp, Rivian, SoFi and Tubi, as well as established companies outside the technology sector, such as ADT, Bissell, Vans, Cigna and SiriusXM.

Taylor and Bavur said they expected technology companies to feel comfortable trying out AI-powered customer service agents, but they were surprised that legacy companies were also becoming Sierra customers.

The company says it can build AI agents that can handle tasks like verifying patients’ identities to healthcare providers, processing returns, ordering replacement credit cards, and helping customers apply for mortgages — essentially automating customer service work that previously required human agents.

Sierra faces competition from startups like Decagon and Intercom, but the company claims to be the leader in the AI ​​customer service category.

Sierra was last valued at $10 billion when it raised a $350 million round led by Greenoaks Capital in September. Other investors in the company include Sequoia, Benchmark, Iconic, and Thrive Capital.

Based on a $100 million annual revenue rate, Sierra is currently valued at a revenue multiple of 100x, a huge valuation despite its exceptionally rapid growth.

The startup uses a results-based pricing model, charging customers for completed work rather than charging a fixed subscription fee.

Taylor and Bavor met at Google in 2005, where Taylor hired Bavor as an associate product manager.

Taylor, a Stanford computer science graduate, co-created Google Maps before founding FriendFeed, which was acquired by Facebook. At Facebook, he served as CTO and helped create the famous “Like” button. He later founded Quip, a Google Docs competitor that Salesforce acquired for $750 million in 2016.

Taylor continued to serve as co-CEO of Salesforce alongside Marc Benioff for more than a year. After Taylor left Salesforce in 2023, Bavur — who spent 18 years on leading Google products like Gmail and Google Drive — invited him to lunch, where they decided to launch Sierra.