In an era when “vibe coders” are winning eight-figure investments, “pick me” would-be founders are producing lookalike business models that can be easily duplicated—and not finding success. The secret? Start with business basics—find a need and fill it. The big winners in the global VC shark tank are businesses that outswim and out-invent the competition with originality, strong fundamentals, and explainable AI. They tackle since-forever problems in multiple industries – like payments processing, drug discovery, and human workflow management—and offer an infrastructure to make the solution permanent, even in our “automate everything” age. Here’s our latest list of agentic AI startups that combine buzzy XaaS concepts with real-world, playing-the-long-game value.
| Startup | The Coin | The Story |
| Source https://www.source.shop/ | $1.4M pre-seed | Founded in 2024, Source automates procurement for retailers using agentic AI that integrates with email, Excel, and ERP systems to generate autonomous, editable purchase orders. Led by 18-year-old CEO Liam Fuller, funding led by Square Peg and Stripe alumni. Plans to expand the engineering team and relocate to San Francisco. |
| Asepha https://www.asepha.ai/ | $4M seed | Agentic AI platform automating pharmacy operations by handling admin tasks like prescription entry using OCR, call automation, and real-time web task assistance; aims to relieve US pharmacies facing severe staffing shortages. Funding led by Glasswing Ventures and Core Innovation Capital. |
| Voicecare AI voicecare.ai | $4.5M seed | Agentic AI startup focused on AI-driven voice technologies for healthcare. The funding round successfully closed. |
| Ciroos AI https://ciroos.ai/ | $21M funding | Emerging from stealth with $21 million to scale an agentic AI tool focused on operations teams, enabling intelligent workflows and automation for enterprise operations. |
| Composio | $25M Series A | Founded in 2023 by IIT Bombay alumni, Composio builds agentic AI infrastructure that enables AI agents to continuously learn and share experience across tasks, improving autonomously over time and accelerating AI software development. Total raised: $29M. |
| Xelix | $160M funding | Specializes in agentic AI for automating accounts payable processes in finance operations; raised a large round to scale enterprise finance automation. |
| Nabla | $70M Series C | Provides agentic AI solutions to streamline clinical workflows by integrating AI agents deeply into healthcare operations; total funding $120M. |
The Takeaways:
1. Pitch from traditional business principles, not buzz. Today’s “forever issues” are rooted in human needs. Businesses that solve the problems of the past with original applications of next-gen technology are irresistible to investors who want epic exits in a few years. Launch your funding pitch narrative from demonstrable (i.e., problem solving), not potential value.
2. Your methodology is your moat. AI can do almost anything – except be you. Your experience, work ethic, originality, and mission can be mimicked—but not actually reproduced. How you use your application of agentic AI to solve a persistent problem will be unique—a product of how you create ideas. Lean into the irreproducible nature of your problem-solving methods to demonstrate the scalability of your business model.
3. Debunk the hype. It might seem counterintuitive, but hype – even about your startup—can actually harm your chances of raising additional funds if you can’t also provide analytics – and significant research—to underscore your long-term value. That goes back to your moat – and your ability to demonstrate relevance, adaptability, and tradecraft – or the capacity to foresee what your competitors are creating and one-up them. In every pitch – whether it is for seed or a massive Series C push – prove you’re not just a pretty algorithm – you’re built to scale and outlast legacy brands and upstarts.
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