C3 AI

36 major milestones

Enterprise AI software company (Redwood City, CA) founded by Thomas M. Siebel, offering the C3 AI Platform and pre-built industry AI applications.

Latest Valuation

$4,000,000,000

9 Funding Rounds

Company Timeline

Years 0-4

Company founded (as C3 / C3 Energy)

Thomas M. Siebel founded the company in Redwood City, originally focused on energy-sector carbon management and smart-grid analytics; initial funding largely from Siebel personally.

Year 0 • 2009

First external funding (Series A, dec 2009)

Company raised its Series A round (date reported Dec 14, 2009 in some databases); early investors over time included Sutter Hill Ventures and InterWest Partners.

Year 0 • 2009

Series B funding (reported Dec 2010)

Reported Series B financing round (date appears as Dec 29, 2010 in funding timelines).

Year 1 • 2010

Series C funding (May 2013)

Company completed a Series C round (listed in multiple funding timelines).

Year 4 • 2013

Years 5-9

Rebranded to C3 IoT

Company changed name to C3 IoT to reflect expansion beyond energy into IoT and industrial use cases.

Year 7 • 2016

Series D funding (reported 2016)

Company reportedly raised a Series D round in 2016 to support growth and product expansion.

Year 7 • 2016

Major cloud partnerships formed (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)

C3.ai integrated its platform with leading public clouds to enable multi-cloud deployments and broaden market reach (partnerships formed across 2017–2018).

Year 8 • 2017

Forbes Cloud 100 recognition (2017–2019)

C3.ai was listed as a Forbes Cloud 100 Standout across several years (2017–2019), an industry benchmark for private cloud companies prior to IPO.

Year 8 • 2017

Industry leadership recognition (IIoT and big data awards)

C3.ai received multiple industry awards and editor picks in 2018–2020 for innovation in IIoT, big data, and enterprise AI.

Year 9 • 2018

Series E / Series F funding rounds (2018)

Multiple late-stage private financings reported in 2018 (various databases list Series E and Series F events in March 2018).

Year 9 • 2018

Large Series D / later-stage capital referenced (~2018)

Industry reporting references a major capital infusion (databases list overall late-stage funding activity in 2016–2018); helped fuel product expansion and R&D.

Year 9 • 2018

Years 10-14

C3 AI Suite v7 launched / platform product milestone

Public materials reference C3 AI Suite releases (v7 and other updates in 2019) as part of the refocus on enterprise AI.

Year 10 • 2019

Rebranded to C3.ai (focused on enterprise AI)

Company renamed itself C3.ai to sharpen focus on enterprise AI and reposition its product suite and marketing.

Year 10 • 2019

Series F funding (Feb–Aug 2019 rounds reported)

Databases report Series F rounds in 2019 including an amount around $51.8M (Feb 2019) and an additional $50M (Aug 2019) in late-stage funding.

Year 10 • 2019Valuation: $1,800,000,000

C3.ai COVID‑19 Grand Challenge and public data repository

C3.ai DTI assembled a large COVID data repository and ran a Grand Challenge to spur research; made datasets available to researchers and sponsored competitions.

Year 11 • 2020

Pre-IPO valuation momentum (late‑2020 private valuation)

Commercial databases reported a private post-money valuation near $4.0B (Series G, Sep 2020), providing a valuation reference heading into the IPO.

Year 11 • 2020Valuation: $4,000,000,000

C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute (DTI) grants awarded for COVID‑19 research

C3.ai DTI awarded $5.4M to accelerate AI research addressing COVID‑19 (three Illinois CS projects among awardees); DTI is a consortium with universities and partners including Microsoft.

Year 11 • 2020

Series G funding (reported Sep 15, 2020)

Late private round reported (Series G) of $69.5M with databases listing a post-money valuation near $4.0B shortly before IPO.

Year 11 • 2020Valuation: $4,000,000,000

Initial Public Offering (IPO) — listed as AI

C3.ai completed its IPO in December 2020 (ticker AI). Public filings and press noted a large capital raise tied to the offering (reporting around $651M of proceeds in some summaries).

Year 11 • 2020Valuation: $4,000,000,000

IDC MarketScape recognition (Leader) and ongoing partner expansion

C3.ai earned industry recognition (IDC MarketScape leader in 2019 and 2021) and continued to deepen partnerships with large system integrators and cloud vendors.

Year 12 • 2021

Transition to consumption-based pricing model

C3.ai announced and began shifting toward consumption-based pricing to lower entry barriers and align costs to value delivered.

Year 13 • 2022

Forrester Wave Leader recognition (AI & ML Platforms)

C3.ai was named a Leader in Forrester Wave evaluations (Forrester citations include 2022 and later 2024 recognitions).

Year 13 • 2022

Launched C3 Generative AI Suite

C3.ai introduced integrated generative AI capabilities (grounded LLMs and enterprise-grade security) to its platform and prebuilt applications.

Year 14 • 2023

Expanded partnership with Google Cloud

C3.ai publicly expanded strategic cloud partnership(s) with Google Cloud to accelerate enterprise AI adoption (announced/expanded in 2022–2023 timeframe).

Year 14 • 2023

Years 15-19

Ongoing R&D and product patenting

Public materials and secondary sources reference a growing patent portfolio and continued R&D investments in model-driven architecture and enterprise AI tooling.

Year 15 • 2024

Employee count (reported)

Company reported employee headcount ~891 (FY2024 disclosures / public pages).

Year 15 • 2024

Customer base highlighted (major enterprise customers)

Public materials listed major customers including Shell, Bank of America, U.S. Air Force, Koch Industries, ENGIE, Baker Hughes, reflecting traction in energy, financial services and government.

Year 15 • 2024Valuation: $2,000,000,000

Subscription revenue milestone (FY2024)

Subscription revenue for FY2024 was $269.4M, representing ~87% of total revenue and showing continued subscription-driven growth.

Year 15 • 2024Valuation: $2,000,000,000

Remaining Performance Obligations / customer traction noted

Public disclosures and analyst summaries referenced RPO and an active customer base (~404 enterprise customers) as indicators of future revenue visibility.

Year 15 • 2024

ISO 9001 certification and multiple industry awards noted

Company materials list ISO 9001 certification and multiple recognitions: Forrester Wave Leader, IDC MarketScape leadership, Forbes Cloud 100 standout (2017–2019) and other awards.

Year 15 • 2024

Ongoing public scrutiny and shareholder activity post‑IPO

Media and analysts reported scrutiny including that founder Tom Siebel sold large blocks of stock soon after IPO and that short-sellers and at least one investor lawsuit raised questions about metrics (reports surfaced in 2023–2024).

Year 15 • 2024

Fiscal Year 2024 results reported (FY end Apr 30, 2024)

C3.ai reported FY2024 total revenue $310.6M (+16% YoY), subscription revenue $269.4M (+19%), non‑GAAP subscription gross margin 76%, GAAP operating loss $297.3M, net loss $279.5M; customer count RPO/customers ~404 entities.

Year 15 • 2024Valuation: $2,000,000,000

Total historical funding aggregated (public databases)

Aggregated funding tallies from commercial data providers list total private funding in the ~$228M–$481M range across multiple rounds prior to IPO; databases differ (Tracxn lists $481M total).

Year 16 • 2025Valuation: $4,000,000,000

Board initiates search for successor CEO

Company announcement (July 24, 2025) that Tom Siebel and the board initiated a search for a successor CEO; media reported Siebel's planned resignation for health reasons (late July 2025 reports).

Year 16 • 2025

Product and go-to-market updates (Agentic AI platform & OEM program)

C3.ai announced C3 Agentic AI platform launches and an OEM program in August 2025 to extend product reach (company press releases listed these new product/program launches).

Year 16 • 2025

Organizational restructuring to accelerate growth

Public announcements in Aug 2025 detail restructuring of sales and services organizations to attempt to accelerate growth following mixed financial results.

Year 16 • 2025