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Bret Taylor’s Sierra reaches 0M ARR in under two years | TechCrunch

Bret Taylor’s Sierra reaches $100M ARR in under two years | TechCrunch

Sierra, a 21-month-old, San Francisco-based startup that builds customer service AI agents for enterprises, announced on Friday that it reached $100 million in annual revenue run rate (ARR). The company’s rapid growth suggests that businesses across industries are embracing AI agents.

The startup’s growth rate surprised even its seasoned co-founders, former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor and longtime Google alum Clay Bavor, who wrote on their blog: “That’s a heck of a lot quicker than we expected.”

Sierra’s customers include tech companies like Deliveroo, Discord, Ramp, Rivian, SoFi, and Tubi, as well as well-established businesses outside of the tech sector, such as ADT, Bissell, Vans, Cigna, and SiriusXM.

Taylor and Bavor said they expected tech companies would feel comfortable experimenting with AI customer service agents, but they were astounded that older businesses also became Sierra’s customers.

The company says it can build AI agents that can handle tasks like authenticating patients for healthcare providers, processing returns, ordering replacement credit cards, and helping customers apply for mortgages — essentially automating customer service work that previously required human agents.

Sierra faces competition from startups like Decagon and Intercom, but the company claims to be the leader in the AI customer service category.

Sierra was last valued at $10 billion when it raised a $350 million round led by Greenoaks Capital in September. Other investors in the company include Sequoia, Benchmark, ICONIQ, and Thrive Capital.

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Based on its $100 million ARR, Sierra is currently valued at a 100x revenue multiple, a hefty valuation despite its exceptionally fast growth.

The startup employs an outcomes-based pricing model, charging customers for completed work rather than charging flat subscription fees.

Taylor and Bavor met at Google in 2005, where Taylor hired Bavor as an associate product manager.

A Stanford computer science graduate, Taylor co-created Google Maps before founding FriendFeed, which Facebook acquired. At Facebook, he served as CTO and helped create the iconic “Like” button. He later founded Quip, a Google Docs competitor that Salesforce acquired for $750 million in 2016.

Taylor went on to serve as Salesforce co-CEO alongside Marc Benioff for over a year. After Taylor left Salesforce in 2023, Bavor — who had spent 18 years at Google leading products like Gmail and Google Drive — invited him to lunch, where they decided to launch Sierra.

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Last month, Microsoft announced a slew of upcoming changes to improve Windows 11 and address some of users’ most common complaints about the platform. Chief among the company’s planned fixes was making updates less disruptive. In its blog post on Friday, Microsoft says you’ll be able to “extend the pause end date as many times as you need” and that there are “no limits” on how many times you can reset to another 35-day window. If you don’t re-pause updates at the end of the 35-day period, updates will run as usual.

The changes to Windows Update also include more detailed titles for driver updates, which will now include the device class they apply to, such as display, audio, or battery.

Additionally, Windows 11 will now always have options in the power menu to restart or shut down without running updates, as well as the option to skip updates when setting up a new Windows device. Microsoft is also “unifying the update experience” to bunch together updates so users don’t have to reboot as frequently. Instead, “updates will download in the background, then will wait for a coordinated installation and restart.”

#Microsoft #pause #Windows #Updates #indefinitely #days #timeMicrosoft,News,Tech,Windows">Microsoft will let you pause Windows Updates indefinitely, 35 days at a timeWindows users will no longer be forced to run automatic updates in the middle of a game or a busy day. Microsoft is rolling out some long-awaited changes to Windows Update to users on its Dev and Experimental Windows Insider channels, including the ability to indefinitely delay updates up to 35 days at a time.Last month, Microsoft announced a slew of upcoming changes to improve Windows 11 and address some of users’ most common complaints about the platform. Chief among the company’s planned fixes was making updates less disruptive. In its blog post on Friday, Microsoft says you’ll be able to “extend the pause end date as many times as you need” and that there are “no limits” on how many times you can reset to another 35-day window. If you don’t re-pause updates at the end of the 35-day period, updates will run as usual.The changes to Windows Update also include more detailed titles for driver updates, which will now include the device class they apply to, such as display, audio, or battery.Additionally, Windows 11 will now always have options in the power menu to restart or shut down without running updates, as well as the option to skip updates when setting up a new Windows device. Microsoft is also “unifying the update experience” to bunch together updates so users don’t have to reboot as frequently. Instead, “updates will download in the background, then will wait for a coordinated installation and restart.”#Microsoft #pause #Windows #Updates #indefinitely #days #timeMicrosoft,News,Tech,Windows

changes to Windows Update to users on its Dev and Experimental Windows Insider channels, including the ability to indefinitely delay updates up to 35 days at a time.

Last month, Microsoft announced a slew of upcoming changes to improve Windows 11 and address some of users’ most common complaints about the platform. Chief among the company’s planned fixes was making updates less disruptive. In its blog post on Friday, Microsoft says you’ll be able to “extend the pause end date as many times as you need” and that there are “no limits” on how many times you can reset to another 35-day window. If you don’t re-pause updates at the end of the 35-day period, updates will run as usual.

The changes to Windows Update also include more detailed titles for driver updates, which will now include the device class they apply to, such as display, audio, or battery.

Additionally, Windows 11 will now always have options in the power menu to restart or shut down without running updates, as well as the option to skip updates when setting up a new Windows device. Microsoft is also “unifying the update experience” to bunch together updates so users don’t have to reboot as frequently. Instead, “updates will download in the background, then will wait for a coordinated installation and restart.”

#Microsoft #pause #Windows #Updates #indefinitely #days #timeMicrosoft,News,Tech,Windows">Microsoft will let you pause Windows Updates indefinitely, 35 days at a time

Windows users will no longer be forced to run automatic updates in the middle of a game or a busy day. Microsoft is rolling out some long-awaited changes to Windows Update to users on its Dev and Experimental Windows Insider channels, including the ability to indefinitely delay updates up to 35 days at a time.

Last month, Microsoft announced a slew of upcoming changes to improve Windows 11 and address some of users’ most common complaints about the platform. Chief among the company’s planned fixes was making updates less disruptive. In its blog post on Friday, Microsoft says you’ll be able to “extend the pause end date as many times as you need” and that there are “no limits” on how many times you can reset to another 35-day window. If you don’t re-pause updates at the end of the 35-day period, updates will run as usual.

The changes to Windows Update also include more detailed titles for driver updates, which will now include the device class they apply to, such as display, audio, or battery.

Additionally, Windows 11 will now always have options in the power menu to restart or shut down without running updates, as well as the option to skip updates when setting up a new Windows device. Microsoft is also “unifying the update experience” to bunch together updates so users don’t have to reboot as frequently. Instead, “updates will download in the background, then will wait for a coordinated installation and restart.”

#Microsoft #pause #Windows #Updates #indefinitely #days #timeMicrosoft,News,Tech,Windows
Pronto, an Indian instant house-help startup, is finalizing a funding round led by tech investor Lachy Groom that would value the fast-growing company at about $200 million after investment, TechCrunch has learned.

The deal is expected to bring in about $20 million in fresh capital and would mark a sharp jump from the $100 million valuation at which the company raised $25 million in a Series B round led by Epiq Capital in early March, doubling its valuation in a matter of weeks, two people familiar with the matter said.

Bengaluru-based Pronto completed about 500,000 orders last month and is currently handling around 24,000–25,000 orders daily, up from about 18,000 daily bookings in March and roughly 1,000 last year.

Founded in 2025, Pronto connects households with on-demand domestic help for services such as cleaning and chores, promising quick turnaround times through a managed network of workers.

In March, Pronto founder Anjali Sardana told TechCrunch the startup had expanded from one city to 10 — including Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai — and from five to more than 150 micromarkets. However, much of its activity remains concentrated in a handful of markets, with the National Capital Region accounting for about half of total bookings.

The startup has over 4,500 active professionals on its platform, around 99% of whom are women, Sardana said last month, adding that demand continued to outpace onboarding of new workers as bookings grew about 20% week over week.

Before this funding, Pronto had raised about $40 million in total. Its investors include Epiq Capital, Glade Brook Capital, General Catalyst and Bain Capital Ventures.

Techcrunch event

San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026

Pronto and Groom did not respond to requests for comment.

#Lachy #Groom #India #startup #Pronto #200M #valuation #sources #TechCrunchpronto,Lachy Groom">Lachy Groom to back India startup Pronto at a 0M valuation, sources say | TechCrunch
Pronto, an Indian instant house-help startup, is finalizing a funding round led by tech investor Lachy Groom that would value the fast-growing company at about 0 million after investment, TechCrunch has learned.

The deal is expected to bring in about  million in fresh capital and would mark a sharp jump from the 0 million valuation at which the company raised  million in a Series B round led by Epiq Capital in early March, doubling its valuation in a matter of weeks, two people familiar with the matter said.







Bengaluru-based Pronto completed about 500,000 orders last month and is currently handling around 24,000–25,000 orders daily, up from about 18,000 daily bookings in March and roughly 1,000 last year.

Founded in 2025, Pronto connects households with on-demand domestic help for services such as cleaning and chores, promising quick turnaround times through a managed network of workers.

In March, Pronto founder Anjali Sardana told TechCrunch the startup had expanded from one city to 10 — including Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai — and from five to more than 150 micromarkets. However, much of its activity remains concentrated in a handful of markets, with the National Capital Region accounting for about half of total bookings.

The startup has over 4,500 active professionals on its platform, around 99% of whom are women, Sardana said last month, adding that demand continued to outpace onboarding of new workers as bookings grew about 20% week over week.

Before this funding, Pronto had raised about  million in total. Its investors include Epiq Capital, Glade Brook Capital, General Catalyst and Bain Capital Ventures.

	
		
		Techcrunch event
		
			
			
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Pronto and Groom did not respond to requests for comment.
#Lachy #Groom #India #startup #Pronto #200M #valuation #sources #TechCrunchpronto,Lachy Groom

Pronto, an Indian instant house-help startup, is finalizing a funding round led by tech investor Lachy Groom that would value the fast-growing company at about $200 million after investment, TechCrunch has learned.

The deal is expected to bring in about $20 million in fresh capital and would mark a sharp jump from the $100 million valuation at which the company raised $25 million in a Series B round led by Epiq Capital in early March, doubling its valuation in a matter of weeks, two people familiar with the matter said.

Bengaluru-based Pronto completed about 500,000 orders last month and is currently handling around 24,000–25,000 orders daily, up from about 18,000 daily bookings in March and roughly 1,000 last year.

Founded in 2025, Pronto connects households with on-demand domestic help for services such as cleaning and chores, promising quick turnaround times through a managed network of workers.

In March, Pronto founder Anjali Sardana told TechCrunch the startup had expanded from one city to 10 — including Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai — and from five to more than 150 micromarkets. However, much of its activity remains concentrated in a handful of markets, with the National Capital Region accounting for about half of total bookings.

The startup has over 4,500 active professionals on its platform, around 99% of whom are women, Sardana said last month, adding that demand continued to outpace onboarding of new workers as bookings grew about 20% week over week.

Before this funding, Pronto had raised about $40 million in total. Its investors include Epiq Capital, Glade Brook Capital, General Catalyst and Bain Capital Ventures.

Techcrunch event

San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026

Pronto and Groom did not respond to requests for comment.

#Lachy #Groom #India #startup #Pronto #200M #valuation #sources #TechCrunchpronto,Lachy Groom">Lachy Groom to back India startup Pronto at a $200M valuation, sources say | TechCrunch

Pronto, an Indian instant house-help startup, is finalizing a funding round led by tech investor Lachy Groom that would value the fast-growing company at about $200 million after investment, TechCrunch has learned.

The deal is expected to bring in about $20 million in fresh capital and would mark a sharp jump from the $100 million valuation at which the company raised $25 million in a Series B round led by Epiq Capital in early March, doubling its valuation in a matter of weeks, two people familiar with the matter said.

Bengaluru-based Pronto completed about 500,000 orders last month and is currently handling around 24,000–25,000 orders daily, up from about 18,000 daily bookings in March and roughly 1,000 last year.

Founded in 2025, Pronto connects households with on-demand domestic help for services such as cleaning and chores, promising quick turnaround times through a managed network of workers.

In March, Pronto founder Anjali Sardana told TechCrunch the startup had expanded from one city to 10 — including Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai — and from five to more than 150 micromarkets. However, much of its activity remains concentrated in a handful of markets, with the National Capital Region accounting for about half of total bookings.

The startup has over 4,500 active professionals on its platform, around 99% of whom are women, Sardana said last month, adding that demand continued to outpace onboarding of new workers as bookings grew about 20% week over week.

Before this funding, Pronto had raised about $40 million in total. Its investors include Epiq Capital, Glade Brook Capital, General Catalyst and Bain Capital Ventures.

Techcrunch event

San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026

Pronto and Groom did not respond to requests for comment.

#Lachy #Groom #India #startup #Pronto #200M #valuation #sources #TechCrunchpronto,Lachy Groom

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