Sent raises $12M Series A to rebuild messaging for the AI agent era
Sent, a New York startup offering a single API to reach users across SMS, WhatsApp, and RCS, has raised an oversubscribed $12 million Series A. Companyon Ventures led the round, with Bessemer Venture Partners, Urban Innovation Fund, and CP Overture participating.
Sent routes each message to the channel most likely to reach a given user, using an AI model that determines in real time both what's available and what's optimal. It reaches more than 1 billion unique phone numbers through direct relationships with 75-plus carriers, and says over 20,000 developers and product teams route traffic through the platform.
The company is positioning for a shift in which AI agents send a growing share of business-to-consumer messages. "AI agents will soon send more business messages than people do, and the infrastructure beneath them is not ready," said co-founder and chief executive officer Daniel Vataj.
The round funds Sent's move from software vendor to licensed telecom infrastructure. Companyon, Bessemer, and Urban Innovation Fund all backed earlier rounds and returned here — a notable step-up in conviction from their prior support.
Sent is taking on entrenched incumbents. The global application-to-person (A2P) messaging market is worth roughly $100 billion and is dominated by legacy vendors including Twilio, Sinch, and Infobip.
Sent's bet is that the messaging layer built for humans won't hold as AI agents initiate billions of conversations. If it's right, the incumbents' scale becomes a liability rather than a moat — and infrastructure built for agents becomes the new default.
Read more: Business Insider
