AI sales representative startups have become a notably crowded sector. Those traveling into San Francisco from the airport might notice billboards with slogans like “Stop Hiring Humans” by Artisan or “Hire Piper, the AI SDR” promoted by Qualified. Despite the rapid growth of some startups in this industry, the field faces certain obstacles and has led to some investors expressing caution.
Anshul Gupta, co-founder of Actively AI, acknowledges that initial versions of these AI sales tools have not met expectations. Gupta explains that traditional AI sales representatives have underperformed by overwhelmingly prioritizing sheer volume, which means reaching out to as many potential customers as possible.
Established in 2022, Actively AI advocates for a different strategy. The startup develops custom ‘reasoning’ models for companies to analyze their data and identify the most valuable prospects to target, thereby replicating the efforts of top human sales representatives. This innovative use of reasoning technology has become a significant trend in the AI industry, by encouraging AI models to expand their reasoning capabilities and verify their conclusions.
Actively AI insists that this method is effective, citing that it has enabled clients such as fintech company Ramp to generate tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue. The New York-based startup has secured $17.5 million in Series A funding from Bain Capital Ventures, as exclusively reported to TechCrunch. This follows a previously undisclosed $5 million seed round from First Round Capital, bringing total funding to $22.5 million.
Actively’s CEO and fellow co-founder, Mihir Garimella, stated that the company refers to its approach as ‘GTM Superintelligence’—a reasoning-driven method that not only automates or assists but also actively makes optimal decisions to promote growth.
The startup’s technology leverages a combination of proprietary models and widely used reasoning models developed by OpenAI and Anthropic. The founders, who both studied AI at Stanford, bring expertise to the company, with Garimella’s focus on active learning—a discipline closely related to reasoning—being a contributing factor to Actively’s name.
Actively AI’s recent funding is indicative of the expanding interest in reasoning models beyond foundational AI companies like OpenAI or DeepSeek, reaching into startups. For instance, a YC-backed startup recently raised $5 million, claiming to have developed a ‘reasoning engine’ for reducing healthcare administration paperwork. This startup, Taxo, reported exceeding $1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) within six months. While Actively AI did not disclose its exact ARR, it reported a tenfold increase over nine months.
It remains to be seen whether Actively AI’s reasoning-powered approach will deliver as promised, or if it represents merely a novel perspective on existing AI sales tools. The popularity of reasoning gained momentum only late last year with the emergence of DeepSeek. Nonetheless, some investors are evidently convinced by Actively AI’s current proposition.
