Artisan raises $11.5M to deploy AI ’employees’ for sales teams

Artisan, a startup aiming to replace traditional sales software with AI-powered virtual employees, announced on Monday that it has raised $11.5 million in seed funding. The company’s first AI assistant, named Ava, automates many tasks typically handled by business development representatives, like researching leads and crafting personalized outreach emails.

Founded just last year, Artisan has already reached $1 million in annual recurring revenue, with over 120 companies using its platform. The seed round was led by Oliver Jung, with participation from Y Combinator, HubSpot Ventures, Day One Ventures, and others.

“We create AI employees called artisans, and then we consolidate software tools together to create this unified software ecosystem where AI employees are managing and doing your work for you,” said Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, Artisan’s 23-year-old CEO and co-founder, in an interview with VentureBeat.

How Artisan’s AI assistant streamlines sales processes

Artisan’s approach aims to streamline the fragmented landscape of sales software. Rather than integrating multiple tools, the company offers a single platform that handles tasks ranging from lead generation to email outreach. At the center is Ava, an AI assistant that can operate autonomously to find prospects, research companies, and craft personalized messages.

“Ava finds leads for people that match their ICP [ideal customer profile]. We have access to over 300 million different B2B lead profiles,” Carmichael-Jack explained. “Ava enriches leads using data sources like CrunchBase, Apollo, Cognism…writes emails to the leads and LinkedIn messages, and automates the entire process.”

AI’s impact on sales jobs: A shift in roles

Carmichael-Jack acknowledged that AI will likely replace some roles, but argued this shift is ultimately beneficial: “I think there’s going to be a shift from the manual, repetitive, automatable roles to more human centered roles,” he said. “Humans will be shifted to more human activities.”

Artisan plans to expand beyond sales, with AI assistants for marketing and customer success in development. The involvement of HubSpot as an investor signals that even established software providers see potential in AI-first approaches.

“HubSpot backing us has been like a really meaningful thing to us, because it’s showing that even the legacy software providers are ready for the next paradigm of software to come,” Carmichael-Jack noted.

The Future of AI in Business Operations

As Artisan pushes forward with its AI sales assistants, the line between human and machine in the workplace continues to blur. The question now isn’t whether AI will transform sales, but how quickly.

For businesses, the future of sales may be less about closing deals and more about choosing the right digital companion. In this new landscape, the best salesperson might just be the one you never see.