(Reuters) -AI startup Clay's valuation more than doubled to $3.1 billion in the latest funding round, as investors continue to pour money into artificial intelligence companies.
The company raised $100 million in the round, led by Google-parent Alphabet's independent growth fund, CapitalG, indicating industry validation for Clay's offerings.
Clay was valued at $1.5 billion about three months ago, in an employee tender offer.
AI and its commercial applications have continued to draw billions in funding
as investors bet on the promise of the technology to enhance productivity and reduce costs.
This allure has also helped overshadow the impact of changing U.S. trade policy and geopolitical tensions on dealmaking.
Dealmaking activity for the first seven months of the year hit the highest since the 2021 pandemic-era peak, boosted by the surge in AI demand.
Last week, when most of Big Tech companies reported their earnings, AI turned out to be a bigger driving factor behind demand across internet search, digital advertising and cloud.
AI fintech startup Ramp saw a 41% jump in valuation in just over a month in its latest fundraise last week.
Founded in 2017, Clay provides an AI-powered go-to-market (GTM) platform that enables personalized outreach at scale.
A GTM strategy is a company's plan for how it will sell and deliver a product or service to customers.
Clay said the funding will be used to accelerate its product development.
Existing investors who participated in the round included Sequoia, Meritech Capital, and First Round Capital.
(Reporting by Ateev Bhandari in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Shinjini Ganguli)
