Actively AI secures $22.5 million to deliver 'superintelligence' in sales and claims that AI SDRs have not been successful.

The startup market offering AI-driven sales representatives has become highly competitive today. Approaching San Francisco from the airport, it’s common to see billboards inviting people to "Stop hiring humans” (Artisan) or to "Hire Piper, the AI SDR" (Qualified). While some of these companies are expanding, they also face challenges, and certain venture capital investors are becoming cautious.

Anshul Gupta, co-founder of Actively AI, acknowledges that the initial versions of these AI-based sales tools fall short of expectations. According to Gupta, traditional AI sales representatives have failed by focusing too much on "pure volume," that is, contacting as many potential customers as possible.

Founded in 2022, Actively AI proposes a different approach. This startup develops customized "reasoning" models to help companies analyze their data and find the most valuable prospects, emulating the work of top human sales representatives. This new method uses reasoning technology, an approach that has revolutionized the field of artificial intelligence by requiring models to analyze and verify their logic. Actively claims that its strategy is yielding results, stating that it has helped clients like the fintech Ramp generate tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue.

Based in New York, Actively has recently raised $17.5 million in a Series A funding round, according to what they have shared. This round follows a previous undisclosed $5 million seed round from First Round Capital, bringing the total funding to $22.5 million. According to Mihir Garimella, CEO and co-founder of the company, their method is called “GTM Superintelligence,” a reasoning-driven approach that not only automates or assists but also makes optimal decisions to drive growth. To develop their technology, the startup combines internal models with popular reasoning models from OpenAI and Anthropic.

Both founders have backgrounds in artificial intelligence from Stanford, with Garimella focused on active learning, a field related to the reasoning that gives Actively its name. Actively’s fundraising is the latest indicator that the surge in reasoning models could be extending beyond established AI companies like OpenAI or DeepSeek to emerging startups. For instance, a YC-backed startup raised $5 million last week, claiming to have built a “reasoning engine” to reduce bureaucracy in the healthcare sector, achieving over $1 million in annual revenue in six months.

While it is still early to assess whether Actively’s reasoning-based approach will work as promised, some investors seem convinced of its proposition.