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RapidCanvas, an Austin-based AI agent startup, raised a $16 million Series A, CEO Rahul Pangam tells Axios exclusively.

Why it matters: Investment is being plowed into startups that deploy AI agents to automate tasks for consumer-facing companies.

RapidCanvas' post-money valuation is around $80 million, a source close to the situation says. The company declined to comment. 

State of play: RapidCanvas joins the likes of Aampe, which raised a Series A, and Novus, which raised a seed, in announcing rounds in recent weeks.

Zoom in: The funding was led by Peak XV, with participation from Titanium Ventures and existing investors Accel and Valley Capital Partners. It increases the company's total funding to $23.5 million.

Proceeds will be invested in training or teaching the AI agents, which learn from RapidCanvas' code base and data scientists, and commercializing the product, Pangam says.

What's next: The funding will satisfy the company's capital needs until the end of 2026, though it plans to raise another round towards the end of 2025 or in early 2026, Pangam says.

How it works: RapidCanvas' AI agents can automate up to 75% of tasks performed by data scientists and engineers, per the company.

They are powered by large language models (LLMs) to recognize patterns as well as to make decisions.

The agents are paired with human experts, who provide strategic thinking and planning, and perform tasks like system design, hypothesis testing and creative problem-solving.

As a result, a company can reduce the number of engineers they employ from 10 to one or two.

Catch up quick: RapidCanvas was founded in 2021 by Pangam and Uttam Phalnikar, who both started up Simility, an AI-powered risk management platform acquired by PayPal.

That technology was later integrated into PayPal's global fraud detection operations.

By the numbers: Revenue, which is in the low single-digit millions at this stage, is growing about 300% year over year, Pangam says.

Customers include retail logistics providers such as Fulfillment Plus and retailers such as Farmaconde, as well as financial services providers and manufacturers.

Per Pangam, if Farmaconde were to build its own predictive modeling or hire a professional services firm to custom-build it, it would cost 80% more and take about nine months, versus six weeks with RapidCanvas. 

Exclusive: RapidCanvas raises $16M Series A for AI agent

Following the raise, the company has an $80 million valuation.

Illustration of a robot hand writing on a whiteboard. 

RapidCanvas, an Austin-based <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="AI agent startup" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/26/generative-ai-next-act-autonomous-agents" data-vars-content-id="256fa72b-60af-475c-9ed8-1759cf65dcf0" data-vars-headline="Exclusive: RapidCanvas raises $16M Series A for AI agent" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/26/generative-ai-next-act-autonomous-agents" target="_self">AI agent startup</a>, raised a $16 million Series A, CEO Rahul Pangam tells Axios exclusively.Why it matters: Investment is being plowed into startups that deploy AI agents to automate tasks for consumer-facing companies.

Exclusive: RapidCanvas raises $16M Series A for AI agent

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