Gruve.ai, a hot new company in the artificial intelligence consulting space, just completed a $20 million fundraising round. Mayfield led their $6m Series A funding round. This latest investment raises the company’s total funding to $37.5 million. With Gruve, Andrew is now a serious player in a space that is ripe for disruption. The company was created by a team with deep experience from Rahi Systems. They promise to shake up the archetypical IT consultancy model with their approach to client engagement and service delivery.
At the helm of Gruve is CEO Tarun Raisoni, who emphasizes the need for a shift in how technology services are offered. The company’s approach is unique in that they don’t charge clients during the period of initial solution implementation. As an AI-focused firm, Gruve works closely with clients to identify their unique AI requirements. Next, they curate and clean data that can inform the creation of AI applications.
Gruve’s operational model uses AI agents to automate many of these processes, including the detection of a security breach, a process that would have previously needed human consultants. This flexible model allows Gruve to engage clients in a pay-as-you-go and pay-for-performance model. It undermines the hourly fare model that has become entrenched throughout the industry.
AI truly changes that dynamic,” said Raisoni. He said the key is knowing each client’s specific business processes inside and out. “You need to have knowledge of your customer’s business before you can start to deploy these solutions, as their workflows are drastically different,” he continued. How they service their clients is different.
There are two big ways Gruve seeks to flip the traditional consultancy model on its head. For one, we can lower our dependence on needing to hire an army of consultants. We can largely do this by using AI agents to perform repetitive tasks. This strategic approach standardizes operations as well which is helpful to increase productivity.
The second major change is about moving to a usage-based billing model. This innovative, consumption-based approach allows clients to pay just for the features and functionality they use. This more fluid approach is what modern service delivery looks like, in much the same way that electricity or cloud computing services are delivered today.
Gruve’s partnerships with major companies such as Cisco, IBM’s Red Hat, and Google, as well as collaborations with numerous AI-native startups like Glean and Supervity, further enhance its credibility and market reach. These partnerships enable Gruve to enjoy high, software-like gross margins of 70% to 80%. This comprehensive approach delivers serious benefits over the standard consulting practice.
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