Decagon 聘請投行評估收購意向，並與 ServiceNow 等公司初步洽談
AI agent company Decagon is holding early M&A talks with ServiceNow, others
AI 智能體初創公司 Decagon 已聘請投行評估收購意向，並與 ServiceNow 及其他公司展開初步洽談。Decagon 今年稍早的估值為 $4.5 billion；若未能達成交易，公司可能改為進行新一輪融資。
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By Katie Roof
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Editor at Large and co-author of VC Insider
Buzzy AI agent startup Decagon could be the latest company swept up in a growing wave of AI dealmaking.
The company, which was last valued at $4.5 billion earlier this year, has hired a bank to evaluate acquisition interest, according to people familiar with the matter.
Decagon has held early discussions with cloud software giant ServiceNow and additional companies, the people said. If a deal does not materialize, Decagon could instead raise a new funding round.
The interest in Decagon represents a new shift in the AI boom: after years of huge venture rounds and soaring valuations, tech companies are increasingly looking to buy their way into promising AI markets. Hugging Face was recently acquired by Nvidia for 12.9 billion, and OpenRouter was snapped up by Stripe for around $8 billion.
Growing AI-related businesses are often getting offers at a significant premium to their last valuation, so if Decagon were to accept an offer, it could be considerably higher than its previous $4.5 billion value.
Founded in July 2023 by Jesse Zhang and Ashwin Sreenivas, Decagon uses generative AI to automate customer support for enterprise customers, including Delta, Snapchat, and Ticketmaster. The company has raised over $400 million from a roster of well-known Silicon Valley investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Accel. It competes with industry veteran Bret Taylor's Sierra, which was valued at $15.8 billion earlier this year.
A deal would also come as ServiceNow looks to reassure investors that it can adapt to AI’s threat to traditional software businesses. Its shares tumbled earlier this year during the so-called SaaS-pocalypse, when investors feared AI could erode software companies’ profit margins.
It was also punished for making a $7 billion acquisition of the security business Armis, a deal announced late last year. The stock has since rebounded as ServiceNow continues to invest heavily in AI and reshape parts of its business.
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Katie is Editor at Large for Business Insider and also a Global Reporter for the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, working with sister publications including Politico and The Telegraph. She has been a frequent television commentator and on-stage moderator. She is an LA Press Club award winner for her reporting on SpaceX and has broken more than 1,000 stories, which also earned her the TBPN accolade "scoop athlete of the century."
來源：Business Insider Tech · businessinsider.com