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Replit, Cursor, Lovable, and Emergent https://a16z.com/the-ai-application-spending-report-where-startup-dollars-really-go/
Of the seventeen vertical application companies, 12 focus on supercharging humans – while five aim to serve as “AI employees” that complete workflows end-to-end. The latter includes #27 Crosby Legal (agentic law firm), #34 Cognition (AI engineer), #37 11x (automated GTM employees), #39 Serval (AI IT service desk), and #42 Alma (AI-powered immigration law services).
Nevertheless, we expect to see more end-to-end agentic products – and even AI-native services businesses – emerge. These are especially likely to be represented in the Mercury customer base, as new startups may not be locked into multi-year contracts with expensive providers like lawyers, accountants, etc. – and instead “hire AI”!
What about the most popular categories of vertical software? We determined a few representatives for each of three verticals:
Customer service: Lorikeet (#8), Customer.io (#14), Ada (#40), Crisp (#46) Sales / GTM: Instantly (#13), Clay (#25), 11x (#37) Recruiting / HR: Micro1 (#9), Metaview (#19), Applaud (#43)
Furthermore, two companies belong into the broader “operations” bucket. These include Delve (#11, compliance automation) and Combinely (#29, accounting).