Founders: Arvind Jain (CEO), T.R. Vishwanath, Tony Gentilcore, Piyush Prahladka
Launched: 2019
Headquarters: Palo Alto, California
Funding: $765.3 million (PitchBook)
Valuation: $7.2 billion (PitchBook)
Key Technologies: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, deep neural networks/deep learning, explainable AI, generative AI, machine learning
Industry: Enterprise technology
Previous appearances on Disruptor 50 list: 2 (No. 42 in 2025)
Over the past year, Glean has moved decisively beyond its origins in enterprise search and proclaimed itself the champion of "Work AI," systems that don't just surface information, but actively execute tasks across a business with the goal of making work more efficient and faster. Companies including Dell, Workday and Palo Alto Networks have already adopted Glean's technology in order to make their businesses more efficient.
"The most important thing that I hear from businesses is they are trying to make sure that their workforce becomes AI-first," Glean CEO Arvind Jain told CNBC.
Rather than relying solely on generic large language models, Glean tailors products like its AI agents to each company, continuously ingesting data from across workplace tools, such as emails, chats, documents, and internal tickets, to create a real-time map of how work happens within that company. That context is then used to power AI agents capable of acting on behalf of employees, completing multi-step tasks while understanding company structure, permissions, and workflows across tools like Slack, Salesforce, and Google Workspace.
"You have to remember that models like ChatGPT, they don't know anything about your internal company's data," Jain told CNBC. "We're able to actually use that context and combine it with the power of models to solve real business problems for you."
When the company launched the Work AI Institute in late 2025, it marked a move beyond products toward more holistic AI integration. The research center studies what drives real-world results from enterprise AI and provides practical guidance for business leaders on how to adopt AI into their workflows. Developed in collaboration with researchers from Stanford and Harvard, the Work AI Institute focuses on understanding how AI changes workflows, decision-making, and organizational structures.
The company reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue in early 2025 and then doubled that figure to $200 million by the end of the year, driven by Glean's expansion across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, and by significant increases in company-wide deployments and large enterprise contracts.
Investors have followed. In mid-2025, Glean raised $150 million in Series F funding, bringing its valuation to $7.2 billion and signaling strong belief in its long-term role in the enterprise AI ecosystem. The round was led by Wellington Management, with participation from new investors including Khosla Ventures, Bicycle Capital, Geodesic Capita and Archerman Capital, and existing investors Capital One Ventures, Citi, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia Capital, among others. The funding round came amid intensifying competition from major players like Microsoft and Amazon, as well as a wave of AI-native startups including fellow 2026 Disruptor Perplexity.
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