Bret Taylor, chairman of the board of directors of OpenAI, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley Media and nology Conference at the Sun Valley Re in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 8, 2025.David A.
Grogan | CNBCBret Taylor's artificial intelligence startup Sierra has just joined an exclusive : The company sports a new $10 billion valuation after raising $350 million in fresh capital.Sierra is one of just a handful of AI startups, including OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Safe Superintelligence and Thinking Machines that are valued at or above $10 billion.
Investors are pouring money into this competitive group of companies in the hopes that they'll eventually hit the public .Taylor is the chairman of OpenAI's board, and previously served as co-CEO of Salesforce alongside Marc Benioff.
Taylor co-founded Sierra in 2023. The company builds and implements AI agents for customer service.
AI agents can carry out tasks autonomously on behalf of their users.s of Salesforce fell 5% Thursday after the company reported weak guidance and concerns lingered how AI is affecting software companies.Read more CNBC newsHuawei launches second trifold smartphone at $2,500 as it looks to cement comebackC3 AI reports declining revenue, announces new CEO to replace SiebelOpenAI boosts size of secondary sale to $10.3 billionApple has survived Trump's tariffs so far.
It might raise iPhone prices anywaySierra said its agents are already being used by "hundreds of millions of people" to help with tasks refinancing s, ordering lunch, dering furniture, understanding insurance deductibles and fixing nology, among other things.Greenoaks led Sierra's funding round, the company said.
Its valuation more than doubled from its most recent raise in October."We're in this for the long term," Sierra said in a blog post on Thursday.The company said it will use its fresh funding to invest in its platform and focus on domestic and international expansion.Sierra's funding s a flurry of other major AI raises in Silicon Valley.
Earlier this week, Anthropic announced it had closed a $13 billion funding round at a $183 billion post-money valuation.WATCH: Sierra co-founder Bret Taylor on AI agents’ role in an evolving global landscapewatch now41:1941:19Sierra co-founder Bret Taylor on AI agents' role in an evolving global landscapeNews s