11x has secured about $50 million in a Series B funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). This round comes after a recent $24 million series led by Benchmark, bringing the total funding to $76 and its valuation to $320 million.
The startup is the latest to cash in on the AI market boom, which has funneled funds into niche markets developing within it, from AI chatbots to AI-powered marketing tools focused on building sales development representatives.
11x receives funding for AI sales management tools
Founded in 2022, 11x has been involved in building AI digital workers, generating about $10 million in annual recurring revenue. In its manifesto, the company revealed that it also acquired Opkit, an AI-powered automated phone calling service.
11x has two digital worker bots: Alice and Jordan. Alice coordinates customer outreach and generates sales leads. Jordan, the newer bot, is a sales rep that speaks 30 languages.
11x’s CEO Hasan Sukkar says the company’s mission is to deliver a fully autonomous workforce for sales. The CEO’s words are a direct challenge to competitors like Salesforce, which has also pivoted into AI.
The American venture capital firm that led the latest funding round, Andreessen Horowitz has been active in other AI funding rounds. The VC has an extensive AI portfolio that includes over 20 AI startups. One of its notable investments is in Mistral AI, which is currently estimated to be worth around $2 billion.
11x in the world of AI-powered sales management tools
11x is not the only startup developing AI-powered sales management tools to have received significant funding.
Regie.ai uses AI to help sales teams streamline their processes and has raised $10 million in a round led by Foundation Capital. Another competitor, Artisan raised $11.5 million in a seed round led by Oliver Jung, with participation from VCs like HubSpot Ventures and Y Combinator.
This fund inflow trend signifies growing interest in AI marketing tools. However, these new entrants face significant challenges from established marketing and sales platforms like Salesforce and Hubspot because they also have their own AI solutions.
In September 2024, Salesforce announced Agentforce, which is a suite of autonomous AI agents designed for sales, marketing, and commerce. The company aims to have 1 billion AI agents deployed by the end of 2025. Salesforce is also doubling down on the AI market. It started a generative AI fund to bolster the AI startup ecosystem. Currently, the fund sits on an endowment of about $1 billion.
Hubspot also announced its AI tool, Breeze AI, during its OUTBOUND event in 2024.
Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/11x-raises-50-million-andreessen-horowitz/