- Voice agents, which use AI to listen and respond to spoken commands, are top of mind for VCs in 2025.
- One startup in the space, Vapi, just raised $20 million from Bessemer Venture Partners.
- We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck Vapi used to raise its Series A funding round.
Of all the tech trends set to take center stage in 2025, many investors say they’re most excited about AI agents understanding commands and completing tasks on behalf of humans.
Some startups in the space are already drawing eyes from VCs, including Vapi, which just raised $20 million.
The startup, which is building an AI voice agent tool, closed a Series A round in December. The funding was led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Abstract Ventures, AI Grant, Y Combinator, Saga Ventures, and Michael Ovitz also participated.
Founded in 2023, San Francisco-based Vapi is building a platform where developers can create, test, and deploy AI voice agents in a business setting — think customer service, front desk, outbound sales calls, or employee training,
For example, developers could use Vapi to build an AI agent capable of answering the phone at a doctor’s office to help patients schedule appointments.
Vapi CEO Jordan Dearsley said his bet is that voice models would become cheaper, faster, and more human-like. Vapi’s competitive edge is focusing on the infrastructure layer to bring better technology to customers more quickly, he explained.
“Rather than developing these models ourselves, we concentrated on building the engineering and infrastructure necessary to turn them into production-ready voice agents,” he told BI. “Because our platform is modular, customers can tap into the latest models within hours of their release, keeping them on the cutting edge as the space evolves.”
AI agents have become all the rage in Silicon Valley, with investors at firms such as Insight Partners, a16z, and NEA telling BI they expect startups in the space to play a huge role in the tech ecosystem in the coming year.
In addition to Vapi, a handful of other startups have already won over investors. Cognition Labs created an AI coding agent called Devin and raised $175 million this spring at a $2 billion valuation. Waveform, which is building AI voice agents that sound more empathetic, closed a $40 million round in the fall.
Here’s an exclusive look at the 18-slide presentation Vapi used to raise a $20 million Series A funding round from Bessemer Venture Partners.
