Bret Taylor’s AI Company Sierra Raises $350M Capital at $10B Valuation : Tom M
by: Tom M
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**Summary of Bret Taylor's AI Company Sierra's Recent Developments** Bret Taylor's AI solutions company, Sierra, has successfully raised an additional $350 million, bringing its total valuation to $10 billion. In a blog post, Taylor and co-founder Clay Bavor announced plans to expand their operations beyond their current locations in San Francisco, New York, London, and Atlanta, aiming to establish a stronger presence in Europe and Asia. Taylor, a former co-CEO of Salesforce, left the company in December 2022 to return to entrepreneurship. His departure was initially seen as amicable, but reports later suggested there were tensions with co-CEO Marc Benioff. Now, Taylor's new venture, Sierra, is positioning itself as a competitor to Salesforce in the agentic AI space, which focuses on enhancing customer experiences through AI-driven solutions. Sierra has already attracted hundreds of customers, including major brands in various sectors like financial services and healthcare. The company plans to use the new funding to enhance its platform and expand its market reach. **Key Details:** - Sierra raised $350 million at a $10 billion valuation. - Taylor and Bavor aim to expand internationally. - Taylor previously served as co-CEO of Salesforce and left to pursue entrepreneurship. - Sierra targets Salesforce's customer base and focuses on transforming customer experiences with AI. - The company has secured significant clients, including Sonos and SiriusXM. **Context:** Bret Taylor's transition from Salesforce to founding Sierra highlights the competitive landscape in the AI sector, particularly in customer service solutions. As companies like Salesforce invest heavily in AI, Taylor's insider knowledge of their operations could pose a significant challenge. **Hashtags for SEO:** #BretTaylor #SierraAI #Salesforce #AgenticAI #AIExpansion #TechFunding #CustomerExperience #Entrepreneurship #SiliconValley #AIInnovation
Bret Taylor’s AI solutions company Sierra has raised $350M additional capital at a valuation of $10B.
Revealing the news in a blog post, serial entrepreneur Taylor and his Sierra co-founder Clay Bavor also wrote that they are looking to expand beyond their offices in San Francisco, New York, London, and Atlanta to “build a larger presence in Europe and Asia”.
Taylor once served as co-CEO of Salesforce, alongside Marc Benioff, a few years after the cloud giant acquired his startup, Quip, for $750M in 2016. But, after only one year in the role, he announced he was stepping down in December 2022 to return to his “entrepreneurial roots”.
It had been believed in the industry that Taylor was being courted by Benioff as part of his succession plan. But now, far from inheriting the crown of the Salesforce kingdom, Taylor has founded his own upstart empire, which appears to have its sights clearly set on the cloud giant’s territory – that being, agentic AI.
It may not be unreasonable for us to speculate that Benioff and senior leadership at Salesforce HQ are taking note of this latest announcement from Sierra – and pondering what it means for them.
A Threat to Salesforce?
Bret Taylor is a familiar face in the Silicon Valley start-up scene and an interesting figure for us in the Salesforce ecosystem. He’s someone who now stands as a competitor to the cloud giant, with the added threat of knowing their business extremely well as former leadership.
At the time of his departure from Salesforce in 2022, Taylor said in a statement: “After a lot of reflection, I’ve decided to return to my entrepreneurial roots.
“Salesforce has never been more relevant to customers, and with its best-in-class management team and the company executing on all cylinders, now is the right time for me to step away.”
After leaving, he went on to found AI solutions company Sierra with Clay Bavor. The pair first met while working together at Google.
Initial suggestions were that Taylor left on good terms, but the Wall Street Journal later reported that tensions were brewing between the co-CEOs before his departure.
In an article by The Information titled A Marc Benioff Protégé Has Morphed Into Salesforce’s Big Worry, new claims had emerged that Taylor had his sights focused on Salesforce’s market share in the world of agentic AI.
Sierra is said to be focused on transforming the customer experience, providing agents to answer customer queries, solve problems, and take action.
The exposé claimed that Taylor and Sierra have been directly targeting Salesforce customers.
Sonos, SiriusXM, and Casper – all flagship Salesforce customers – could be seen listed on the Sierra website.
The Future of AI?
In their post, Taylor and Bavor write that starting Sierra was an “early bet that AI agents would transform the enterprise software industry”. At the time, they had to explain what the word “agent” meant to every potential customer, they said.
“Today, we’re announcing that we’ve raised $350M additional capital at a valuation of $10B, led by Greenoaks, which is doubling down on Sierra,” the founders wrote.
“We’re deeply grateful to our earliest design partners and customers, and to the incredible group of builders and entrepreneurs who’ve joined us to help build Sierra into what it is today.”
They added: “Eighteen months in, Sierra has hundreds of customers, including some of the most recognizable brands in Financial Services, Healthcare, Telecommunications, Retail, and Consumer Services.”
These brands include the “largest, most sophisticated, and heavily regulated in the world”, Sierra says, with more than 20% of their customers having revenue over $10B, and more than half having revenue over $1B.
The founders said that they will use the new funding, along with the company’s “strong revenue growth and balance sheet”, to increase investments in their platform, US growth, and international expansion.
They wrote: “Sierra’s Agent OS is designed to empower both customer experience teams and developers to build exceptionally effective AI agents. We’re doubling down on our investments to apply the latest advancements in AI to all parts of the agent development life cycle.”
This includes:
- Making it easier to get up and running with or without technical expertise.
- Enabling AI insights to automatically find and suggest agent improvements to drive CSAT, NPS, and revenue.
- Expanding beyond customer service to help companies improve the lifetime value of their customers by driving sales and engagement with their AI agent.
- Expanding beyond offices in San Francisco, New York, London, and Atlanta to build a larger presence in Europe and Asia.
Final Thoughts
So, what does this mean for Salesforce? Well, the cloud giant has been on something of an acquisition spree in recent times. And, we’re quite comfortable describing Taylor as a “serial entrepreneur”. So, one possible conclusion could be a cozy reunion between the former co-CEOs in some capacity.
This is purely speculative, of course. But Salesforce has pivoted hard into the world of agentic AI, with Sierra also competing in that space – led by someone who knows Salesforce’s business inside out, no less.
The post Bret Taylor’s AI Company Sierra Raises $350M Capital at $10B Valuation appeared first on Salesforce Ben.
September 05, 2025 at 04:19PM
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