Tavily Raises $25M to Power AI Agents with Web Access

The Rise of AI Agents in Business

Across numerous sectors, organizations are now deploying AI agents to automate diverse internal processes.

These agents are proving particularly valuable in the financial industry, where they are utilized for sophisticated fraud detection. They possess the capability to analyze extensive transaction datasets in real-time.

Simultaneously, sales teams are leveraging AI agents to compile information on prospective clients. These agents can efficiently scan the internet and various social media platforms for relevant data.

Essential Capabilities for Effective AI Agents

For optimal performance, these agents require access to the internet to retrieve information from pertinent sources. This must be achieved while adhering to established company guidelines and replicating the methodology of a human researcher.

Directly linking an agent to a large language model, such as ChatGPT, without implementing specific company safeguards can potentially yield undesirable and inappropriate outcomes.

George Mathew, managing director at Insight Partners, emphasized the importance of enterprise-level governance, risk, and compliance, stating to TechCrunch, “If you just let that happen, it’s just going to be the wild, wild west.”

Tavily Secures $20 Million in Series A Funding

Recognizing this need, Insight Partners spearheaded a $20 million Series A investment in Tavily. This startup facilitates the connection of AI agents to the web in a manner that aligns with company-defined policies.

This funding round elevates Tavily’s total raised capital to $25 million, supporting its growth and development.

From Open Source Project to Enterprise Solution

Tavily was founded last year by data scientist Rotem Weiss. It originated as an open-source project, “GPT Researcher,” created in 2023.

Weiss explained to TechCrunch that GPT Researcher gathered real-time web data prior to ChatGPT’s internet connectivity. The project quickly gained significant traction, amassing nearly 20,000 GitHub stars.

Following the introduction of web search capabilities in ChatGPT and other LLMs, Weiss launched Tavily, shifting its focus to enterprise clients.

Tavily’s Suite of Tools

Tavily now provides a comprehensive set of tools to companies including Groq, Cohere, MongoDB, and Writer. These tools enable their agents to search, crawl, and extract structured insights from both publicly available and private data sources.

While the majority of AI agents are not currently connected to the internet, Tavily aims to integrate the next billion agents with the web.

Competitive Landscape

Tavily is not alone in providing search solutions for AI agents. Key competitors include Exa, which secured a $17 million Series A, and Firecrawl, a smaller startup offering a similar connectivity layer.

Furthermore, OpenAI and Perplexity are also developing search solutions targeted towards independent developers.

• Key Players: Tavily, Exa, Firecrawl, OpenAI, Perplexity
• Focus Areas: AI agent connectivity, web search, data extraction