Sequoia backs Sable's $45m AI demo tool targeting B2B sales jobs
US startup Sable has raised $45 million to build an AI agent that replaces human sales engineers, signalling a structural shift in B2B selling that European software companies will be forced to address.
Sable, a company less than a year old, has secured $45 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital and 8VC. The capital will fund Aidan, an artificial intelligence system designed to run live product demonstrations, answer buyer questions in real time, and switch between languages mid-conversation. Sable claims the tool replaces the entire demo-to-onboarding pipeline, absorbing the roles of sales development representatives, demo specialists, solutions engineers, and customer-success staff.
Unlike passive chat widgets, Aidan operates in a shared browser window where it actively drives the product while the buyer watches and clicks along. Sable trains the system using recordings of a company's best sales calls, internal documentation, and marketing materials to create what it calls a reusable brain for each client. Early adopters already using the system in production include Notion and Decagon.
The investment reflects a broader financial pivot toward agentic AI—software that executes tasks rather than merely generating text. The global agentic AI market is projected to reach $9 billion to $10 billion in 2026 and swell to $57 billion by 2031, according to Mordor Intelligence and Coherent Market Insights. Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire said watching Aidan switch between English, Mandarin, and Spanish "reminded me of what Stripe did for payments."
For European businesses, the technology presents both a competitive necessity and a labour challenge. Multinational enterprises on the continent routinely require sales support in multiple languages, a capability Aidan is built to handle without expanding headcount. Handing the customer-facing sales funnel to an AI agent could fundamentally alter the cost structures of European software vendors competing against heavily capitalised American rivals.
However, Sable faces significant hurdles before this model becomes standard enterprise practice. Chief Executive Nim Ravid acknowledges the persistent scepticism bred by years of mediocre corporate chatbots, alongside concerns over trust, job displacement, and competition from AI agents built by customers themselves. The company must still prove that a compelling demonstration can translate into a reliable product that replaces human sales engineers at scale.
