Glean Raises $200M Series D to Drive Enterprise Adoption of AI-Powered Work Assistants
Glean, a leading provider of AI-powered work assistants for enterprise, has secured over $200 million in Series D funding, valuing the company at $2.2 billion. This significant investment, led by Kleiner Perkins and Lightspeed Venture Partners, underscores the growing demand for AI solutions in the enterprise space and Glean’s pivotal role in driving productivity and efficiency through generative AI technology.
Founded in 2019 by former Google search engineers, Glean initially focused on enterprise search and knowledge management solutions. However, the company quickly pivoted to become a frontrunner in enterprise generative AI with the launch of its conversational AI assistant in spring 2023. This AI assistant leverages advanced search and RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) technology to provide personalized answers grounded in each enterprise’s unique knowledge graph, ensuring privacy, security, and compliance with permissions.
Glean’s platform has gained significant traction in the market, with a customer base that includes prominent companies like BILL, Canva, and Sony Electronics. The company has experienced nearly quadrupled annual recurring revenue over the past year, demonstrating strong demand for its AI-powered solutions among enterprises seeking to enhance productivity and streamline workflows.
According to Arvind Jain, co-founder and CEO of Glean, the funding will further accelerate the company’s momentum and enable it to meet the sharp demand from enterprises looking to implement generative AI solutions. He emphasizes the importance of applying generative AI in a safe and useful manner, tailored to the specific needs of each organization.
Despite concerns about data privacy and security associated with AI platforms, Jain reassures that Glean prioritizes security and privacy by respecting permissions set in a company’s data sources. Moreover, the platform’s use of RAG technology ensures that every answer generated is fully referenceable back to the original source, enhancing transparency and reliability.
The funding round comes at a time when CIOs are under increasing pressure to deploy generative AI across their organizations to drive productivity and innovation. A recent survey found that 78 percent of CIOs believe generative AI will be critical to their organization’s productivity, highlighting the urgency for companies to embrace AI-powered solutions like Glean.
Investors, including Kleiner Perkins and Lightspeed Venture Partners, express confidence in Glean’s ability to deliver safe, responsible generative AI solutions tailored to the needs of enterprises across various sectors. Mamoon Hamid of Kleiner Perkins highlights the tremendous growth and customer demand that Glean has experienced, underscoring its potential to revolutionize the way people work.
With the latest funding, Glean plans to expand its teams, enhance its product offerings, and strengthen its go-to-market strategy to meet the growing demand for AI-powered work assistants in the enterprise space. The company’s continued success and strong financial performance position it as a leader in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, poised to drive innovation and efficiency in workplaces worldwide.
