Enterprise AI startup Serval just closed a $47 million Series A round led by Redpoint Ventures, but the real story isn't the funding - it's the customer roster. The company has quietly signed up major AI players like Perplexity, Mercor, and Together AI to use its dual-agent system for automating IT service management, a validation that could reshape how enterprises think about AI-powered operations.
Sometimes the customer list tells a better story than the funding announcement. Serval just raised $47 million in Series A funding, but what's really turning heads in enterprise circles is who's already using their AI agents: Perplexity, Mercor, and Together AI. When the companies building the future of AI are trusting you with their IT operations, that's a different kind of validation than venture capital.
The Redpoint Ventures-led round, which includes participation from First Round, General Catalyst, and Box Group, comes as enterprises are wrestling with a fundamental question about AI agents: how do you harness their power without losing control? Serval thinks they've cracked the code with a two-agent system that splits the difference between automation and oversight.
"We don't want them to feel the marginal cost of building these automations," CEO Jake Stauch told TechCrunch. "We want to make it easier to automate something forever than do it manually once." It's the kind of pitch that resonates in an era where IT teams are drowning in routine requests while trying to keep pace with rapid AI adoption.
The company's approach sidesteps one of agentic AI's biggest enterprise pitfalls - the rogue agent problem. Instead of deploying a single all-knowing help desk bot, Serval splits the work between two specialized agents. One handles the coding of internal automations for tasks like software authorization and device provisioning, while a separate help desk agent executes those tools based on predefined rules. Think of it as AI with training wheels, but training wheels that actually make you go faster.
"You don't want someone to go into Slack and say, hey, I want to delete all the data at the company, and the very helpful AI agent responds, 'Great, I'll delete all the data,'" Stauch explained to TechCrunch. The system's response instead would be more like: 'I don't have a tool for that, but I can reset your password or handle these other approved tasks.'
This architectural choice reflects a deeper understanding of enterprise risk tolerance. While consumer AI races toward maximum capability, enterprise customers want guardrails that don't slow them down. Serval's deterministic tools can include complex permission structures - multi-factor authentication requirements, time-based restrictions, approval workflows - all while maintaining the speed that makes automation worthwhile.
