RapidCanvas Receives $16 Million for Successfully Powering AI Agents, Addressing Tech Talent Shortage. Investing.com

AUSTIN, Dec. 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As the adoption of artificial intelligence accelerates, a critical shortage of technical talent threatens to threaten the progress of many companies. RapidCanvas breaks this barrier by democratizing AI-driven business transformation. Today, the company announced a $16 million funding round for its AI agents that automate up to 75% of complex tasks traditionally performed by data scientists and engineers. These agents, powered by large-scale language models (LLM), can process vast amounts of information, identify patterns, and make decisions, effectively replicating many human skills.

The Series A funding round was led by Peak KSV, with additional participation from Titanium Ventures and existing investors Accel and Valley Capital Partners (WA:). This brings RapidCanvas’ total funding to over $23.5 million since its 2021 launch.

Founders of RapidCanvas: (left to right) Rahul Pangam and Uttam Phalnikar.

Although Gartner (NISE:) predicts that over 80% of businesses will implement AI-based processes in the coming years, 68% of executives cite a lack of technical talent as a critical barrier. Data scientists and engineers are expensive and often tied to repetitive tasks of coding and transforming data, “spacing AI implementation, delaying return on investment (ROI) and slowing business growth.

Unlike traditional software that only allows humans to complete tasks faster, RapidCanvas’ AI agents can absorb and process information at an unprecedented scale, reading thousands of pages per second and performing tasks that would take humans days to complete. Uniquely, the platform adopts a hybrid approach that combines the power of AI agents with human expertise. While AI agents can handle up to 70% of coding tasks faster and more cost-effectively than humans, the remaining 30% of expert tasks “such as system design, hypothesis testing and creative problem solving” still require human intervention. This model allows RapidCanvas to deliver superior results with significantly fewer human resources, typically requiring only 1 or 2 expert engineers, while traditional firms may employ 10.

RapidCanvas AI Agents Canvas.

This ˜Service-as-Software’ approach is particularly effective in areas such as coding, where AI agents can handle much of the routine, repeatable tasks. The market potential for this is staggering. With over 30 million software engineers and data scientists globally representing nearly a trillion dollars in payroll, RapidCanvas estimates that 70% of these tasks can be performed by AI agents, freeing them to focus on valuable work that drives business growth.

RapidCanvas was founded by veterans of AI-powered business transformation. Co-founders Rahul Pangam and Uttam Phalnikar previously built Similiti, an AI-powered risk management platform that was acquired by PayPal ( NASDAQ: ). Their technology was later integrated into PayPal’s global fraud detection operations. The duo’s deep expertise in AI implementation and its real-world impact drives their visionary mission to make AI accessible and effective for businesses of all sizes. The duo has also assembled an experienced leadership team that has been part of multiple successful startup exits – including 5 IPOs.

At RapidCanvas, we are revolutionizing the way businesses solve complex challenges by seamlessly integrating the power of generative artificial intelligence with the expertise of domain experts, said Rahul Pangam, CEO and co-founder of RapidCanvas. Our context-aware AI agents automate critical tasks such as data preparation, transformation, and modeling, enabling business users to create customized AI solutions using simple natural language queries. With our expert-in-the-loop approach, we provide human oversight at key decision points, validating results and delivering real-world impact. Furthermore, our Trusted AI framework ensures that all results are validated, secure and explainable. This customer-centric approach allows businesses to achieve results in days or weeks, not months” at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. This round of funding will accelerate our mission to make reliable and efficient AI transformation available to more businesses.

The company’s ˜Service-as-Software’ model marks a completely new era in automation. For the past 25 years, software-as-a-service (SaaS) has dominated the software landscape. Although SaaS tools lead to increased efficiency through workflow automation, their ROI is limited to increased employee productivity rather than direct business results. In contrast, RapidCanvas directly links software costs to business results. Its AI agents handle complex tasks autonomously, reducing the need for technical talent and delivering faster, more scalable results. This shift from indirect efficiency gains to tangible business results represents a fundamental shift in the way companies use software.

Harshjit Sethi, MD at Peak KSV Partnerswho led the Series A round, added that there is a huge gap in data science expertise among organizations. It either forces them to rely on outside consultants or abandon these projects altogether. RapidCanvas’ innovative approach of combining AI agents with subject matter experts helps organizations fill this gap and achieve results in a scalable and efficient manner. RapidCanvas has seen strong traction from its initial customer base who are consistently adding new use cases, demonstrating the value it provides

Looking ahead, RapidCanvas is well-positioned to lead the way in AI-powered business transformation. By eliminating the need for extensive technical expertise, RapidCanvas is able to bridge the skills gap and help businesses unlock custom AI solutions in less time, allowing those businesses to focus on what really matters: unlocking new growth opportunities and driving efficient revenue and profitability.

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Notes to the editor
Media images can be found here. For further information please contact RapidCanvas Press Office: Bilal Mahmood at b.mahmood@stockvoodstrategi.com or +44 (0) 771 400 7257.

About RapidCanvas
RapidCanvas is an AI platform that combines the precision and automation of AI agents with the deep knowledge of human domain experts to deliver reliable and measurable business results. With RapidCanvas, businesses create high-performance, production-grade custom AI solutions 10x faster at 80% lower cost compared to traditional custom solutions.

RapidCanvas was recognized as a top 5 data science and machine learning platform by independent customer satisfaction research firm G2. RapidCanvas works with industry leaders in manufacturing, retail and financial services to unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence. Visit https://www.rapidcanvas.ai/ for more information or follow on LinkedIn, X or YouTube.

About Peak KSV Partners
Peak KSV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA) is a leading venture capital firm investing across India, Southeast Asia and beyond. Over the past 18 years of operations in the region, Peak KSV has grown to manage approximately $9 billion in capital across 13 funds and invest in over 400 companies. The portfolio has had 23 IPOs and multiple successful mergers and acquisitions, resulting in over $10 billion in realized and unrealized gains to date. For more, visit: www.peakkv.com.

About Accel
Accel is a global venture capital firm that aims to be the first partner to exceptional teams everywhere, from inception to all stages of private company growth. Accel has been operating in India since 2008 and its investments include companies like BookMyShow, Browserstack, Flipkart, Freshworks, FalconX, Infra.Market, Chargebee, Clevertap, Cure Fit, Musigma, Moneyview, Mensa Brands, Mintra, Moglik, Swiggit, Stanza Living, Urban Company, Zetverk and Zenoti, among many others. We help aspiring entrepreneurs build iconic global businesses. For more, visit: www.accel.com.

About Valley Capital Partners
Valley Capital Partners is a leading early-stage venture capital firm backing mission-driven founding teams in enterprise and cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, workflow automation and artificial intelligence. We leverage our deep professional networks and decades of operational and investment experience to help founders build and scale their businesses into world-class companies. Valley Capital Partners is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, with offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Hong Kong, SAR. For more, visit: www.valleicapital.vc.

About Titanium Ventures
Titanium Ventures accelerates extraordinary” venture capital firm fuels the growth of prominent disruptors. In the first twelve years, 102 investments generated 44 liquidity events, including Auth0, BigCommerce, Bok, Cloopen, CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:), DocuSign (NASDAQ:), GitLab, Nasuni, OpenGov, and Snap. To date, Titanium Ventures’ revenue acceleration platform has generated >$660 million in revenue for its portfolio companies, expanding their reach across the US, Australia, Asia and the UK. In 2022, the firm announced the closing of its third fund, bringing its fund under management to $1 billion. To view Titanium Ventures’ entire portfolio and learn more, visit: www.ti.vc.

Source: Rapid Canvas