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Marc Benioff-backed startup June aims to simplify AI deployment

Created at 3 Aug · 10:21 AM1 source↑ Market-relevant
IN SHORT

June, a startup co-founded by former Salesforce executive Efrat Rapoport, has raised $20 million in pre-seed funding to address the complexities of integrating AI into enterprise systems. The company's platform aims to automate the process of optimizing business workflows and deploying AI agents, potentially reducing the need for specialized forward-deployed engineers.

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Key Numbers

$20 millionpre-seed funding raised by June
fourco-founders of June
2017year Bonobo AI launched voice-to-text service
two yearstime between Bonobo AI launch and Salesforce acquisition

Who's Involved

Efrat Rapoport
Co-founder of June and former Salesforce executive
June
Startup focused on AI deployment solutions
Marc Benioff
Investor in June through Time Ventures
Michael Dell
Investor in June
Aaron Levie
Investor in June
George Kurtz
Investor in June
Paul Akinmade
Chief Strategy Officer at CMG
CMG
U.S. mortgage lender using June's platform

↳ Why This Matters

The difficulty in deploying AI effectively within existing business infrastructure creates a significant market opportunity for solutions that simplify integration and automation. June's approach could reduce reliance on costly specialized engineers and accelerate AI adoption for enterprises.

Key facts

  • June, a startup co-founded by former Salesforce executive Efrat Rapoport, has launched.
  • The company raised $20 million in pre-seed funding, led by Marc Benioff's Time Ventures.
  • June's platform aims to simplify the integration of AI agents into complex enterprise systems.
  • The platform scans existing business processes, identifies bottlenecks, and builds optimized, agent-powered workflows.
  • Paul Akinmade, CSO at CMG, used June to overcome integration challenges with Salesforce.

June, a new startup co-founded by former Salesforce executive Efrat Rapoport, has emerged from stealth with $20 million in pre-seed funding, including investment from Marc Benioff's Time Ventures, Michael Dell, Aaron Levie, and George Kurtz. The company aims to solve the complex challenge of deploying AI tools within large businesses, a problem often requiring specialized forward-deployed engineers (FDEs).

Rapoport and her co-founders, who previously founded Bonobo AI and were acquired by Salesforce, observed firsthand how companies struggled to integrate AI into their existing platforms. They noted that before AI can deliver value, significant work is needed to address fragmented data, complex workflows, and technical debt within legacy systems.

June's platform is designed to scan a company's existing systems, understand its business processes, identify bottlenecks, and then automatically build optimized, agent-powered processes. It provides a step-by-step roadmap for successful enterprise AI implementation, guiding users through tasks like data source connection and duplicate field removal.

Paul Akinmade, Chief Strategy Officer at CMG, a mortgage lender, shared his experience using June. After facing difficulties integrating AI tools with Salesforce, his team found June's platform provided clarity and enabled safe deployment of agents, even before official kickoff meetings. Akinmade emphasized his desire for an easy-to-use tool that did not require FDEs, a need June appears to have met.

Frequently asked questions

June aims to solve the difficulty businesses face in reliably deploying and integrating AI tools into their existing complex systems and workflows.

June was co-founded by Efrat Rapoport, Ohad Hen, Barak Goldstein, and Idan Tsitiat, who previously founded Bonobo AI.

The platform scans a company's systems to understand business processes, identify bottlenecks, and then automatically builds optimized, agent-powered workflows, providing a step-by-step implementation guide.

June received $20 million in pre-seed funding, led by Marc Benioff's Time Ventures, with additional backing from other tech investors.

What Happens Next

01June will likely focus on scaling its platform and acquiring more enterprise clients.
02Further investment rounds may be anticipated as the company grows.

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Cadence

How It Developed

June, a startup focused on AI deployment, emerged from stealth.
The company raised $20 million in pre-seed funding.
Marc Benioff's Time Ventures led the funding round.
June's platform scans existing systems to optimize business processes for AI agents.
Paul Akinmade of CMG reported successful integration of AI agents with June's platform.

Sources

T1
A Marc Benioff-backed startup thinks AI can solve the AI deployment problemTechCrunch

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