Clay, an A.I. Sales Tool Provider, Raises $115 Million

Clay, a fast-growing start-up that provides artificial intelligence tools for sales and marketing, has drawn investor interest in recent years.Now, the company plans to announce on Wednesday that it has raised more money — $115 million — and pushed its valuation to $7.1 billion, more than double what it attained in its last primary fund-raising round in August 2025.Perhaps more notable is the round’s leader: Wellington Management, a big asset manager investing in start-ups that are likely to go public within a few years.Other participants include Sequoia Capital; A16Z Perennial, an affiliate of Andreessen Horowitz; DST Global; and CapitalG, an investment arm of Alphabet.The round underscores how many A.I.

start-ups are coming of age.They are still posting the kind of vertiginous growth that attracts investors, but they are also keeping an eye on the next potential growth stage, including possible initial public offerings.

(Databricks, an A.I.data analytics start-up now valued at $190 billion, has suggested that it is considering an I.P.O.)Over the past year, Clay has focused on the development of agents, increasingly popular A.I.

tools that can operate autonomously.The company’s agents can automate company growth plans, identify promising customers and help strategize outreach to business leads.Clay is changing its product “to become a self-learning engine,” Alfred Lin, a partner at Sequoia, said in an interview.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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