Sector Snapshot: Sales And Marketing Gets An AI Makeover

Sales, marketing and CRM startups have raised about $3.7 billion globally in 2026 so far, on pace to be roughly flat with the last three years and far below the more than $20 billion boom years of 2021-2022, while AI-focused companies now capture a majority of the funding. Recent standout deals include Sierra’s $950 million round at a $15 billion valuation, Hightouch’s $150 million Series D at $2.75 billion, Netomi’s $110 million round, Actively’s $45 million Series B, and Parloa’s $350 million Series D at a $3 billion valuation, showing that agentic customer-experience and marketing tools are where venture dollars are concentrating.

Not all of us are salespeople. But at some point, everyone gets to be a customer. In that role at least, we’re all pretty familiar with the current state-of-the-art in advertising, marketing and customer experience management technology. And we can all attest it’s quite skilled at separating us from our disposable income. Still, startups and their backers see myriad paths to do better. With that in mind, they’ve deployed billions of dollars in recent quarters to a heavily AI-driven cohort of companies largely focused on improving efficiency by deploying agentic tools to their chosen niches. The broad trend: We’re not back to boom times. Venture funding to sales, marketing and CRM categories actually hit its cyclical peak in 2021 and 2022. Investment has slowed down considerably since, with annual funding hovering around the $8 billion mark in the past three years, Crunchbase data shows. Not surprisingly, however, AI-focused companies are scooping up a much larger share of funding than during the prior peak, with a majority of sales, marketing and CRM-focused investment going to companies in Crunchbase AI-related categories. The numbers: So far in 2026, companies in sales, marketing and CRM categories have pulled in around $3.7 billion globally in seed- through growth-stage funding, per Crunchbase data. That puts the space on track to come in roughly flat with or a bit up from the prior three years, and still far below boom-era levels, when sales and marketing investment topped $20 billion. Standout deals The past few weeks have been particularly busy on the funding front, with multiple big rounds. In the customer experience area, AI unicorn Sierra pulled in a $950 million megaround this week led by Google Ventures and Tiger Global. The financing set a $15 billion valuation for the San Francisco-based company, which offers AI-driven customer experience tools to companies. Another recent large funding recipient was Hightouch , developer of an agentic marketing platform, which closed last week on a $150 million Series D financing led by Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital Ventures , valuing the company at $2.75 billion. The San Francisco startup offers AI agents that carry out audience research, generate brand content and conduct digital marketing campaigns. Netomi , developer of an agentic customer experience platform for enterprises operating at scale in what it describes as high-stakes, regulated environments, picked up another sizable financing. Last week, the San Mateo, California-based company closed on $110 million in new funding led by Accenture Ventures . Also last month, Actively , developer of agentic AI tools for go-to-market teams, secured its Series B. The New York startup raised $45 million in a round co-led by TCV and First Harmonic . One of the year’s biggest rounds for the marketing and CRM space, meanwhile, came earlier this year. Parloa , developer of an AI agent management platform for enterprise customer service, locked up $350 million in a January Series D. General Catalyst led the financing, which brought the Berlin-based startup’s valuation to $3 billion. Exits and outlook Big startup M&A deals are also happening, albeit in small quantities. Just two weeks ago, payment platform Adyen announced that it will acquire Talon.One , a loyalty and incentives platform for merchants, for around $880 million. Berlin-based Talon had previously raised over $120 million in venture funding. Another large transaction, announced last summer, was NICE Systems ’ purchase of Dusseldorf-based Cognigy , a conversational AI platform for customer support, in a deal valuing the latter at around $955 million. As for IPOs, activity has been more muted. One exception was MNTN Performance , a platform for brands to launch TV commercials, which made its debut a year ago and is currently trading well below its post-IPO price. It’s not surprising to see IPO activity muted. The enterprise software IPO market has been muted for months now, driven by investor worries over AI impact on SaaS business models. Startups focused on vertical AI since inception, meanwhile, are a more youthful cohort, mostly not yet prime for public markets. Give them time, however, and it’s likely these AI-driven upstarts will come up with plenty of ingenious techniques to separate us from more of our spending money. And when they do, expect exits to follow. Related Crunchbase query: Global Sales, Marketing And CRM Venture Funding In 2026 Related reading: Exclusive: Schematic Raises $6.5M To Help Companies Update Their Pricing Faster And Easier In The AI Era Exclusive: Winn.ai Raises $18M Series A For AI-Powered Real-Time Sales Assistant AI-Powered Sales Automation Startup Clay More Than Doubles Valuation To $3.1B Illustration: Dom Guzman