Gumloop raises $50M from Benchmark to turn every employee into an AI assistant architect

When Max Brodeur-Urbas founded Gumloop in 2023, his vision was to help non-technical workers automate repetitive tasks using AI. At the time, the concept of AI assistants was very experimental and prone to mistakes.

As AI technology has grown, so have Gumloop’s offerings.

The company says it now allows teams at organizations like Shopify, Ramp, Gusto, Samsara, Instacart, and Opendoor to deploy trusted AI assistants that perform complex, multi-tasking tasks, all without the need for an engineer.

Employees can share the resources they build with their colleagues, creating synergies that accelerate internal processes. “They get addicted, they start building a lot of assistants, and suddenly, the whole company is a descendant of AI,” Brodeur-Urbas told TechCrunch.

As companies rush to adopt AI, Benchmark senior partner Everett Randle believes the key to success is empowering every employee with the power of AI, and Gumloop’s smart builder is an example of a tool that can unlock that potential.

That’s why Randle, who joined Benchmark last October from Kleiner Perkins, chose to lead a $50 million Series B investment in Gumloop. The deal, Randle’s first for his new company, included participation from Nexus VP, First Round Capital, Y Combinator, BoxGroup, The Cannon Project, and Shopify.

Although Gumloop was not looking for new money, the founders decided that this was the year to “step on the oil”. For Brodeur-Urbas, partnering with Benchmark — the company behind icons like eBay, Uber, and Dropbox — was a “no-brainer.”

Although Brodeur-Urbas previously planned to “build a 10-person, multibillion-dollar company,” customer demand is forcing him to build a dedicated sales team and expand his technology team, he said.

Gumloop isn’t the only player who wants to turn anyone with experience into an AI assistant builder. The startup faces stiff competition from established platforms like Zapier and n8n, as well as specialized developers like Dust. Even early AI laboratories are entering the fray. For example, Anthropic’s Claude Cowork allows users to create freelancers without writing a single line of code.

But Randle believes Gumloop beats all of its competitors. During his due diligence, he discovered that one of the company’s customers had adopted Gumloop organically.

When Randle asked the CTO how they chose Gumloop, the answer was telling. The company offered employees full access to Gumloop along with two competitors. Six months later, the results were clear: Employees were using Gumloop daily or weekly, while competing tools remained unaffected, Randle told TechCrunch.

The reason Gumloop has grown so much, according to Randle, is because of its learning curve. “You can go in and start building agents and automation right away,” he said.

While many AI startups worry that early models will repeat functionality and make it obsolete, Randle believes Gumloop’s popular approach is one that will continue to attract customers.

As models continue to evolve, one may be better than another at a particular task. Therefore, Gumloop offers the opportunity to choose the most suitable brand for the job at any time.

Another reason that independence is attractive, according to Randle, is cost. “A lot of businesses owe OpenAI, Gemini, and Anthropic. They want to use all of them,” he said.

His happiness in the company ultimately boils down to his growing opportunity.

“Enterprise automation is a big pot of gold,” Randle said. “I think it’s the biggest group in business AI.”