Motion: Huge Funding Round to Build 'Microsoft Office for AI Agents'

Motion: Launch and Vision

Motion announced, backed by Y Combinator, the completion of a recent funding round of $38 million, with the aim of developing what it aspires to be "Microsoft Office for AI Agents." It is worth noting that Y Combinator is a leading American business accelerator and venture capital firm, founded in 2005, known for providing seed funding and intensive mentorship to startups. Motion was founded in 2019 by Harry Qi, Amid Roohparvar, and Ethan Yu, with Chander Ramesh later joining as the fourth co-founder. The company began its journey with an AI-powered calendar and task management application and has seen significant growth in its professional consumer customer base.

Accelerated Growth and Series C Funding

May saw Motion launch a comprehensive suite of AI agents specifically designed for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), which achieved widespread adoption and exceptional growth. In just four months, the number of B2B customers in this sector exceeded 10,000 clients, generating an Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) of $10 million. This remarkable boom enabled the company to close a Series C funding round of $38 million, led by Stacey Bishop of Scale Venture Partners, followed by a swift Series C2 pre-seed round at a post-money valuation of $550 million.

Prominent Investors and Team Enhancement

In total, Motion successfully raised $75 million in strong investments, including HOF Capital, 468 Capital, and SignalFire, with participation from Valor Equity Partners, Fellows Fund, and Leonis Capital, alongside other prominent investment funds such as the Altman brothers' Apollo Projects. In a notable development, Ashutosh Desai, who previously served as an executive coach for Harry Qi and an advisor to YC, joined Motion full-time.

Integrated AI Agents for SMBs

Motion focuses on serving small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that lack the significant budgets required to develop and train AI agents in-house. Motion's system features comprehensive functional integration for its agents; each agent, referred to as a human name, works in complete harmony with other agents. Currently, the suite includes an "Executive Assistant" responsible for automating scheduling, note-taking, and email responses, as well as a Sales Representative, a Customer Support Representative, and a Marketing Assistant specialized in writing blog posts and social media content.

Integration and Pricing Flexibility

Motion agents integrate effectively with hundreds of popular tools used by SMBs, such as Slack, Google Apps, Teams, and Salesforce. Motion's pricing model is usage-based, offering a basic set of points with the option to add more as needed, based on the number of agents used. Prices start from $29 per month, including one seat, 1000 points, and limited agent functionalities. This goes up to $600 per month for 25 seats, providing access to all agents and 250,000 points, with custom pricing also available for companies with specific needs.

Future Vision and Motion's Impact

Qi believes that Motion seeks to establish what could be considered the Microsoft Office for AI agents. He emphasizes that the real opportunity lies in building the Microsoft of the future by developing integrated applications, rather than relying on purchasing separate AI solutions (such as sales bots, customer service, or blog writing) that may not work in harmony. Despite the challenges and pressures he faces as a founder in the rapidly accelerating AI sector, he affirms his unwillingness to return to what it once was. Qi regularly communicates with many Motion customers, who daily share their success stories about how Motion's solutions have helped them streamline their operations, boost their productivity, and increase their revenue.