Harness Secures $240M to Drive $5.5B Valuation and Close AI’s ‘After-Code’ Gap
AI DevOps tool Harness, established in 2017 by visionary entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal, is making waves in the tech industry. Projected to surpass $250 million in annual recurring revenue by 2025, this innovative startup has recently secured an impressive $240 million Series E funding round, elevating its valuation to $5.5 billion.
Major Funding Round
This substantial funding round includes a $200 million primary investment led by Goldman Sachs, alongside a planned $40 million tender offer featuring contributions from IVP, Menlo Ventures, and Unusual Ventures. Bansal pointed out that the tender offer is designed to provide liquidity for long-term employees, ensuring they benefit from the company’s growth.
The latest valuation marks a remarkable 49% increase from its previous valuation of $3.7 billion attained in April 2022, following a $230 million round. To date, Harness has successfully raised $570 million in equity.
Addressing Software Development Bottlenecks
As AI technology accelerates code creation, it exposes inefficiencies in the subsequent stages of software development, particularly in testing and deployment, which continue to consume nearly 70% of engineering resources. Harness aims to streamline this often laborious and error-prone phase by automating crucial tasks.
Bansal, a well-respected figure in the tech landscape, previously founded AppDynamics, which was sold to Cisco for $3.7 billion. His extensive experience in post-coding environments positions him uniquely to lead Harness’s mission.
Innovative AI Solutions
Harness leverages AI agents to enhance automation in testing, verification, security, and governance. Central to its offering is a software delivery knowledge graph—a sophisticated mapping system that integrates code changes, deployments, and operational policies, setting Harness apart from competitors.
“This knowledge graph serves as the context for our AI agents,” Bansal explained.
These purpose-built agents utilize this context to generate tailored pipelines, intricately aligning with each customer’s unique requirements.
Orchestration and Safety
Harness employs an orchestration engine designed to translate AI recommendations into automated actions while implementing safety checks. Bansal emphasized the importance of this oversight, noting that any AI-generated tests or fixes undergo thorough review from engineers and compliance teams before deployment.
Competitive Landscape and Customer Base
Harness faces strong competition from industry players like Microsoft’s GitHub, GitLab, Jenkins, and CloudBees. Despite this, the company boasts over 1,000 enterprise clients, including notable names like United Airlines, Morningstar, Keller Williams, and National Australia Bank.
To date, Harness has facilitated 128 million deployments and protected 1.2 trillion API calls, optimizing $1.9 billion in cloud expenditures within the past year alone.
Global Footprint and Future Plans
Based in San Francisco, Harness employs over 1,200 professionals across 14 offices including a sizable engineering presence in Bengaluru, India. With plans to expand its R&D and hire hundreds of engineers at its Bengaluru office, Harness aims to enhance its automated capabilities while refining its AI systems. Furthermore, it seeks to bolster its U.S. market operations and expand internationally.
Earlier this year, Bansal merged his software observability firm Traceable with Harness, a strategic move aimed at integrating DevOps with application security, which he believes is a crucial trend in the industry.
Looking Ahead
Bansal has expressed ambitions for a future IPO, emphasizing the company’s robust performance and high growth. While no specific timeline has been shared, he is confident in Harness’s path forward.
“Our business is in excellent health, backed by strong growth and margins,” Bansal stated. “When the timing is right, we will be ready for the public market.”
Harness is poised to redefine the landscape of AI DevOps, combining innovation with strategic foresight to tackle the challenges of modern software development.
As you consider the ever-evolving tech world, remember that progress often hinges on embracing innovation. Explore how tools like Harness can elevate your operations, streamline your processes, and ultimately transform your business for the better!
