Busy AI agent startup Decagon could be the latest company swept up in a growing wave of AI deals.
The company, whose last valuation was $4.5 billion at the start of the year, has hired a bank to assess interest in the acquisition, according to people familiar with the matter.
Decagon has held preliminary discussions with cloud software giant ServiceNow and other companies, the sources said. If a deal does not materialize, Decagon could launch a new round of financing.
The interest in Decagon represents a new turning point in the AI boom: after years of huge funding rounds and skyrocketing valuations, technology companies are increasingly looking to enter promising AI markets. Hugging Face was recently acquired by Nvidia for $12.9 billion, and OpenRouter was acquired by Stripe for around $8 billion.
Growing AI-related companies often receive offers at a significant premium to their last valuation, so if Decagon were to accept an offer, it could be significantly higher than its previous valuation of $4.5 billion.
Founded in July 2023 by Jesse Zhang and Ashwin Sreenivas, Decagon uses generative AI to automate customer support for business customersincluding Delta, Snapchat and Ticketmaster. The company has raised more than $400 million from a roster of well-known Silicon Valley investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures and Accel. It competes with industry veteran Bret Taylor’s Sierra, valued at $15.8 billion earlier this year.
A deal would also come as ServiceNow seeks to reassure investors of its ability to adapt to the threat AI poses to traditional software companies. Its shares fell earlier this year during the so-called SaaS apocalypse, when investors feared that AI could erode software companies’ profit margins.
He was also sanctioned for acquiring security company Armis for $7 billion, a deal announced late last year. The stock has since rebounded as ServiceNow continues to invest heavily in AI and reshape parts of its business.
Gn bussni
