Accel vs M13

Modal Hits $1B ARR, Raises $750M Series D at $15.75B Valuation

Modal, an AI infrastructure startup, announced it has crossed $1 billion in annualized run rate and raised a $750 million Series D round at a $15.75 billion valuation, led by Accel. The company's usage has tripled since its Series C and grown more than 15x year-over-year. Modal's Sandboxes product, launched in 2023 in response to developers using LLMs to generate code, has become a $300 million run rate product on its own, with nearly 3 billion sandboxes spun up and scaling to a million concurrent. The funding round marks Modal's transition from an infra unicorn to an infra decacorn, positioning it as a key player in the AI infrastructure space.

• Modal raised a $750M Series D at a $15.75B valuation, led by Accel.
• Modal crossed $1B in annualized run rate.
• Usage has tripled since Series C and grown over 15x year-over-year.

Presentations.AI Surpasses 12 Million Users Amid AI Presentation Adoption

Presentations.AI, an AI presentation maker, has surpassed 12 million users worldwide. The platform, founded in 2018 by Sumanth Raghavendra and backed by Accel Partners and Together Fund, highlights the shift from one-shot AI generation to workflow integration. Key features include Brand Sync for automatic brand consistency, native editable PowerPoint export, and Presentation Refresh which connects recurring presentations to business data sources like Salesforce, HubSpot, Snowflake, and Google Sheets. The company reports that the US accounts for approximately 23% of revenue, followed by India, UK, Germany, Australia, Canada, and the Middle East. Presentations.AI positions itself as a layer between presentation strategy and business data, enabling teams to keep decks on-brand, editable, and current without manual rebuilding.

• Presentations.AI surpassed 12 million users worldwide.
• Platform founded in 2018 by Sumanth Raghavendra.
• Backed by Accel Partners and Together Fund.

Stacklok Brings Agent Harnesses to the Cloud

Stacklok, founded by Kubernetes creators Craig McLuckie and Joe Beda, is pivoting from software supply chain security to Kubernetes-based agentic solutions. They are developing Mecatl, a cloud-native agent harness, and ToolHive, an open-source platform for managing MCP servers. The company aims to help enterprises run and govern AI agents centrally, reducing dependence on frontier labs and hyperscalers. The commercial product is an 'enterprise spine' offering identity, authorization, policy, and auditing. Stacklok raised a $17.5M Series A in 2023. The article discusses the challenges of moving agent loops to the cloud and the company's vision for enterprise governance of agent interactions.

• Stacklok raised $17.5M Series A in 2023 from Accel, Madrona, and Bain Capital.
• Stacklok pivoted from software supply chain security to Kubernetes-based agentic solutions.
• Mecatl is a cloud-native agent harness started in June as an open source project.

What Is Agentic Identity? Meet Baselayer, the Identity Infrastructure for AI Agents

M13 announces fundraising for Baselayer, an identity infrastructure for AI agents, with a dedicated article published on September 22, 2026.

Investors Are Betting on AI Agents That Shop for You

Venture capitalists are increasingly funding startups building AI agents that can shop on behalf of consumers and handle payments. The article maps the emerging market for "agentic commerce," covering personal assistants like Instinct and Town, shopping search tools like Daydream, payment infrastructure startups like Catena Labs and Basis Theory, and marketing tech such as Profound. Major platforms are also moving: OpenAI and Stripe launched the Agentic Commerce Protocol, Google operates the Agent Payments Protocol, and Visa and Mastercard introduced Trusted Agent Protocol and Agent Pay. However, the space faces trust and fraud challenges, illustrated by Phia's cookie-stuffing scandal and an Instinct agent error that cost a user around $300. Investor interest remains strong, with millions raised across the sector, even as enterprise adoption lags due to compliance and security concerns.

• Adobe Analytics reported that 41% of respondents used AI for online shopping in June 2026.
• OpenAI and Stripe launched the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), while Google operates the Agent Payments Protocol.
• Profound raised $96 million in Series C funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.