AI-driven sales, marketing and CRM startups are capturing a larger share of venture funding, with companies raising around $2.7 billion globally so far in 2026.

Hightouch closed a $150 million Series D led by Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital Ventures, valuing the San Francisco agentic marketing platform at $2.75 billion. Netomi raised $110 million led by Accenture Ventures for its agentic customer experience platform. Parloa secured $350 million in a January Series D valuing the Berlin-based AI agent management platform at $3 billion.

Annual venture funding to sales, marketing and CRM categories has hovered around the $8 billion mark in the past three years, down from a cyclical peak in 2021 and 2022 when investment topped $20 billion. However, AI-focused companies are capturing a much larger share of that funding than during the prior peak.

Adyen announced it will acquire Talon.One, a loyalty and incentives platform, for around $880 million. NICE Systems purchased Cognigy, a conversational AI platform for customer support, in a deal valuing it at around $955 million.