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C3 AI Reportedly Exploring Sale After Founder-CEO Thomas Siebel Steps Down

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C3 AI, a California-based enterprise artificial intelligence software company, is reportedly exploring a potential sale following the recent departure of its founder and long-time CEO Thomas Siebel due to health concerns, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The process is said to be in its early stages, with C3 AI also considering other strategic options, including raising private capital, the sources told Reuters. The company, headquartered in Redwood City, provides a platform used by clients such as Shell and the U.S. Air Force to build and operate large-scale AI applications. Its software is widely used across energy, manufacturing, and government sectors, positioning it as a smaller competitor to Palantir Technologies.

C3 AI currently has a market value of around $2.15 billion, but its shares have dropped over 54% this year amid financial struggles and uncertainty surrounding leadership changes.

In its most recent quarterly report, the company disclosed a net loss of $116.8 million (or $0.86 per share) for the fiscal quarter ending July 31, alongside a 19% revenue drop to $70.3 million. C3 AI also withdrew its full-year forecast in September, citing management transitions and a restructuring of its sales and service operations.

The company’s leadership transition saw Salesforce veteran Stephen Ehikian assume the CEO role on September 1, succeeding Siebel, who has moved to the position of executive chairman after revealing an autoimmune disease causing severe visual impairment.

Siebel, a renowned Silicon Valley entrepreneur, is best known for founding Siebel Systems, which he sold to Oracle in 2005 for $5.85 billion.

C3 AI’s board includes several prominent figures, such as former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Fortune CEO Alan Murray, and former Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell.

AI Startup Modular Raises $250 Million to Take On Nvidia’s Software Dominance

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AI startup Modular announced Wednesday it has raised $250 million in fresh funding, giving the company a valuation of $1.6 billion as it looks to loosen Nvidia’s grip on the AI computing ecosystem.

The round, which nearly tripled Modular’s valuation from two years ago, was led by the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund with participation from DFJ Growth and existing backers GV, General Catalyst, and Greylock.

Founded in 2022 by former Apple and Google engineers, Modular has built a platform that lets developers run AI applications across multiple types of chips without rewriting code for each one. Its clients include cloud providers such as Oracle and Amazon, as well as chipmakers Nvidia and AMD.

Nvidia’s dominance—holding more than 80% of the high-end AI chip market—is reinforced by its proprietary CUDA software, which locks in over 4 million developers worldwide. Modular positions itself as a neutral alternative, branding its approach the “Switzerland strategy.”

Co-founder and CEO Chris Lattner emphasized that Modular isn’t aiming to topple Nvidia directly. “What we’re focused on is not like pushing down Nvidia or crushing them. It’s more about enabling a level playing field so that other people can compete,” he said.

The company plans to sell its software directly to enterprises on a usage-based model and through revenue-sharing deals with cloud providers. Investors are betting that a multi-vendor AI hardware future is inevitable. DFJ Growth partner Sam Fort described Modular as “VMware for the AI era,” enabling workloads to move seamlessly across different chip vendors.

With around 130 employees, Modular plans to use the new capital to grow its engineering and sales teams and to expand beyond AI inference into the more demanding AI training market.

Replit Raises $250 Million at $3 Billion Valuation as AI Code-Gen Market Heats Up

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Replit, the San Francisco-based AI software development platform, announced Wednesday it has raised $250 million in new funding, pushing its valuation to $3 billion. The round underscores booming investor interest in AI code-generation startups, which aim to help both developers and non-technical teams write software.

The financing was led by Prysm Capital, with participation from Google’s AI Futures Fund and Amex Ventures. Existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Coatue also increased their commitments.

Replit’s growth has been dramatic: the company was valued at just over $1 billion in 2023 after raising $97.4 million. Its annualized revenue surged from $2.8 million to $150 million in under a year, reflecting accelerating adoption.

Competitive Landscape

The code-gen sector is attracting major capital. Rival Cognition raised $400 million at a $10.2 billion valuation earlier this week, while Cursor raised $900 million at a $10 billion valuation in May.

Replit CEO Amjad Masad said what sets Replit apart is its “vibe-coding” tools aimed at non-technical enterprise users, enabling departments from sales and HR to operations to accelerate product development.

Customers and New Tools

Companies such as Duolingo and Zillow already use Replit to build applications. On Wednesday, the company also launched Agent 3, an autonomous AI tool designed to test and fix code, as well as build custom agents and workflows.

Strategic Focus

Replit plans to invest the new capital in R&D, sales, and marketing, as it competes with well-funded rivals in the fast-evolving AI software development space.