# Clay

> Clay is a New York-founded go-to-market engineering and AI growth platform that combines business data, enrichment, workflow automation, and AI agents to help revenue teams identify prospects, personalize outreach, and execute growth programs.

Company page on Leadbay: https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/company/clay.com · loaded 2026-10-29

## At a glance

- Website: https://clay.com
- Team based in: New York (clay.com and 1 more)
- Founders: Kareem Amin, Varun Anand
- Industry: Software Development
- Employees: 1580 (employees and founders, investors not counted; clay.com and 1 more)
- Total funding: $317M (clay.com and 1 more)
- Backed by: Wellington Management, Sequoia Capital, StepStone, Andreessen Horowitz, Meritech Capital Partners, DST Global, CapitalG, BoxGroup, Boldstart Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Maple VC, First Round Capital
- Seen in its site's code: Google Tag Manager (googletagmanager.com/gtm.js), Google Analytics (googletagmanager.com/gtag/js), Webflow (data-wf-site=), Google Workspace (MX aspmx.l.google.com), Salesforce (TXT include:_spf.salesforce.com), Zoom (TXT ZOOM_verify), Slack (TXT slack-domain-verification) (read 2026-10-30)
- Email: support@clay.com

## What it sells, to whom

- Clay is a New York-founded go-to-market engineering and AI growth platform that combines business data, enrichment, workflow automation, and AI agents to help revenue teams identify prospects, personalize outreach, and execute growth programs. ([reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/clay-valued-71-billion-latest-funding-round-ai-agent-startups-run-hot-2026-09-09/), [clay.com](https://www.clay.com/press), [governor.ny.gov](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-ai-platform-clay-expand-new-york-city-headquarters-creating-nearly))

## Why it stands out

- Clay’s 2026 Data Partner Awards: HG Insights (Data Partner of the Year), LeadMagic, PDL, G2, Crunchbase, Adyntel, Intentsify, Pubrio, Openmart, and Pursuit. ([clay.com](https://www.clay.com/blog/clays-2026-data-partner-awards), [clay.com](https://www.clay.com/newsroom))
- Clay was named #1 mid-stage company on the Enterprise Tech 30 (ENT30) list, according to its newsroom. ([clay.com](https://www.clay.com/blog/clays-2026-data-partner-awards), [clay.com](https://www.clay.com/newsroom))
- Competes with: ZoomInfo, Lusha, Apollo.io, Unify, Common Room ([techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/13/clay-secures-a-new-round-at-a-3b-valuation-sources-say/))

## Products and services

- **Clay platform**: access to 100+ data sources and AI-powered tools for lead discovery, enrichment, research, and personalized outreach ([clay.com](https://www.clay.com/customers/open-ai), [reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/clay-valued-71-billion-latest-funding-round-ai-agent-startups-run-hot-2026-09-09/), [governor.ny.gov](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-ai-platform-clay-expand-new-york-city-headquarters-creating-nearly))
- **Claygent / AI agents**: agents that analyze business data, recommend next actions, and automate growth work ([reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/clay-valued-71-billion-latest-funding-round-ai-agent-startups-run-hot-2026-09-09/), [governor.ny.gov](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-ai-platform-clay-expand-new-york-city-headquarters-creating-nearly), [clay.com](https://www.clay.com/changelog))
- **Clay Sequencer 2.0**: cold-outbound execution ([clay.com](https://www.clay.com/customers/open-ai), [reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/clay-valued-71-billion-latest-funding-round-ai-agent-startups-run-hot-2026-09-09/), [governor.ny.gov](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-ai-platform-clay-expand-new-york-city-headquarters-creating-nearly))
- **Clay Ads 2.0**: build and synchronize always-on advertising audiences ([clay.com](https://www.clay.com/customers/open-ai), [reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/clay-valued-71-billion-latest-funding-round-ai-agent-startups-run-hot-2026-09-09/), [governor.ny.gov](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-ai-platform-clay-expand-new-york-city-headquarters-creating-nearly))
- **Clay Plugin (CLI & API)**: build workflows, run enrichments, and manage audiences programmatically ([clay.com](https://www.clay.com/customers/open-ai), [reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/clay-valued-71-billion-latest-funding-round-ai-agent-startups-run-hot-2026-09-09/), [governor.ny.gov](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-ai-platform-clay-expand-new-york-city-headquarters-creating-nearly))
- Data marketplace and integrations spanning numerous third-party providers ([reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/clay-valued-71-billion-latest-funding-round-ai-agent-startups-run-hot-2026-09-09/), [governor.ny.gov](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-ai-platform-clay-expand-new-york-city-headquarters-creating-nearly), [clay.com](https://www.clay.com/changelog))

## Customers and markets

- **Customers**: Google, Anthropic, OpenAI, Canva, HubSpot, Vanta, Intercom, Ramp, Verkada, Cursor, Notion, Rippling, Mistral AI, Lovable, Legora ([reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/clay-valued-71-billion-latest-funding-round-ai-agent-startups-run-hot-2026-09-09/), [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/13/clay-secures-a-new-round-at-a-3b-valuation-sources-say/), [governor.ny.gov](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-ai-platform-clay-expand-new-york-city-headquarters-creating-nearly))
- **Markets**: Europe/EMEA, with particular attention to country-specific UK, German, French, and broader European GTM needs. ([clay.com](https://www.clay.com/blog/clay-integrations-september-2026), [clay.com](https://www.clay.com/blog/clay-europe-announcement), [clay.com](https://www.clay.com/blog/clay-lusha-beauhurst))
- **Markets**: APAC, supported by new regional data coverage and community activity in India, Japan, Australia, and elsewhere. ([clay.com](https://www.clay.com/blog/clay-integrations-september-2026), [clay.com](https://www.clay.com/blog/clay-europe-announcement), [clay.com](https://www.clay.com/blog/clay-lusha-beauhurst))

## Team

- Kareem Amin, Cofounder/CEO
- Varun Anand, Co-founder

Backed by: Wellington Management, Sequoia Capital, StepStone, Andreessen Horowitz, Meritech Capital Partners, DST Global, CapitalG, BoxGroup, Boldstart Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Maple VC, First Round Capital

## Latest news

- 2024-06-27 · [Partnering with Clay: On a Mission to Grow | Sequoia Capital](https://sequoiacap.com/article/partnering-with-clay-on-a-mission-to-grow/) (sequoiacap.com)

## Where to find more

- [How Anthropic uses Clay to 3x their enrichment coverage—with](https://www.clay.com/blog/anthropic-case-study)
- [How Rippling uses Clay to scale growth experiments and email](https://www.clay.com/blog/rippling-case-study)
- [How Verkada’s growth team uses Clay to launch targeted ABM c](https://www.clay.com/blog/verkada-case-study)
- [This page in Markdown, for agents](https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/company/clay.com.md)

## Decision makers

- [Kareem Amin](https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/person/kareem-amin--clay.com.md), Cofounder/CEO
- [Varun Anand](https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/person/varun-anand--clay.com.md), Co-founder

Work emails and direct phones come with a Leadbay account: https://wow.leadbay.ai/?register=true

Where it comes from: 22 sites read (clay.com, university.clay.com, launchclay.com, cohorts.clay.com, reuters.com, governor.ny.gov, techcrunch.com, capitalg.com, …).

## Best angle

2026-10-22 · Partnership: Clay announced its first Data Partner Awards, recognizing 10 partners including HG Insights, LeadMagic, PDL, G2, Crunchbase, Adyntel, Intentsify, Pubrio, Openmart, and Pursuit (4 sources)

## Best way in

- Message on X: The company's own account

## Signals: what happened

- 2026-10-29 · Headcount: Headcount up 59% in a year (1 source: [A company database](https://www.clay.com/))
- 2026-10-27 · News: Most people don't know this but when Clay hits 200k followers brad haft is eligible for a 2-year veteran contract extension at $57,928,000 per year. 

He specifically asked to match Steph Curry cause… (1 source: [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/davidegrieco_most-people-dont-know-this-but-when-clay-activity-7520895772557475841-dhmX))
- 2026-10-26 · News: I shared a LinkedIn post about how we got Clay 50M+ organic reach and managed 200+ B2B influencers for them.

Since then, I've had 17 serious DMs.

Heads of Brand/Growth, Marketing Directors and GTM… (1 source: [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/david-walsh-limelight_i-shared-a-linkedin-post-about-how-we-got-activity-7520492200502116353-bMqw))
- 2026-10-22 · Partnership: Clay announced its first Data Partner Awards, recognizing 10 partners including HG Insights, LeadMagic, PDL, G2, Crunchbase, Adyntel, Intentsify, Pubrio, Openmart, and Pursuit (4 sources: [clay.com](https://www.clay.com/blog/series-d), [reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/clay-valued-71-billion-latest-funding-round-ai-agent-startups-run-hot-2026-09-09/), [governor.ny.gov](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-ai-platform-clay-expand-new-york-city-headquarters-creating-nearly))
- 2026-10-04 · News: I reviewed 200+ posts from Clay's 4 top execs to reverse engineer their LinkedIn strategy. (1 source: [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/presence-plumb_clayplaybook-activity-7512503864181489664-9Lrd))
- 2026-09-01 · Fundraising: Series d · $115M (1 source: [A company database](https://www.clay.com/))
- 2026-06-29 · Fundraising: How Clay Got 6 Million Views From LinkedIn in 3 Months (1 source: [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-clay-got-6-million-views-from-linkedin-3-months-carolina-posma-n5qce))
- 2026-04-03 · Fundraising: New York State announced Clay’s planned NYC headquarters expansion, up to $9.96M in performance-based tax credits, 498 committed new jobs over five years, and $50M in New York R&D investment (4 sources: [clay.com](https://www.clay.com/blog/series-d), [reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/clay-valued-71-billion-latest-funding-round-ai-agent-startups-run-hot-2026-09-09/), [governor.ny.gov](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-ai-platform-clay-expand-new-york-city-headquarters-creating-nearly))
- 2026-02-13 · Product: Attention Londoners! The OpenAI for Startups x Clay MCP Hackathon is coming your way! (1 source: [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/grow-with-clay_attention-londoners-the-openai-for-startups-activity-7428138387133468672-cc7f))
- 2025-10-20 · Interviews: Clay.com Beginner Walkthrough 2026 - Step-by-Step Guide (2 sources: [youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY5E4wl8wlA), [youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqdvpIGiOz4))
- 2025-10-14 · News: I posted 961 times on behalf of Clay to grow the account from ~14K to 100K+ followers in exactly 69 weeks. Here's what I learned / built conviction on: (1 source: [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/peterhoilkang_i-posted-961-times-on-behalf-of-clay-to-grow-activity-7383876317311705089-Mxjj))
- 2025-08-06 · News: Clay and clay minerals: A brief review from fundamentals to applications (1 source: [doi.org](https://doi.org/10.62638/zasmat1138))

## Working on now

- Evolving into an end-to-end GTM orchestration platform and self-improving revenue engine, with agents, natural-language TAM sourcing, account research, intent signals, and recommendations for next actions.
- Expanding European GTM coverage: London office, European time-zone support, regional data partnerships, and country-specific workflows.
- Broadening coverage beyond standard B2B databases into EMEA/APAC, public sector, commercial real estate, private equity, and in-market-buyer signals.
- Serving a large and increasingly enterprise-oriented customer base: Clay says it has more than 17,000 customers, including Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, Stripe, ElevenLabs, Visa, Siemens, and UPS.
- Continuing rapid product shipping: recent launches include Agent Plugin, MCP for Reps, Account Research Agent open beta, Claygent auto-mode, and Topic Intent-related capabilities.

From: [Build on Clay: Clay’s Product Roadmap with CEO Kareem Amin](https://www.clay.com/blog/build-on-clay-clays-product-roadmap-with-ceo-kareem-amin), [New and updated integrations in Clay](https://www.clay.com/blog/clay-integrations-september-2026), [Clay doubles down on supporting European GTM teams](https://www.clay.com/blog/clay-europe-announcement), [Clay acquires Avenue to help growth teams act on intent signals](https://www.clay.com/blog/avenue), [Announcing the Clay Partner Program](https://www.clay.com/blog/announcing-the-clay-partner-program)

## Summary

Clay is an AI-powered go-to-market (GTM) platform that automates sales and marketing tasks by aggregating business data and deploying autonomous agents to execute personalized campaigns [1][2][3]. It sells to revenue and sales teams at thousands of companies, ranging from enterprises like Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Stripe to smaller consulting agencies [4][1][3]. Founded in 2017 by Kareem Amin and Varun Anand, the company is headquartered in New York [4][2]. Other investors include Sequoia, CapitalG, a16z, and Meritech [1][2][3]. Clay competes with sales tech platforms such as Apollo.io, ZoomInfo, Lusha, Unify, and Common Room [3]. Its latest news centers on the September 2026 Series D funding to build out its self-learning "revenue engine" and expand its AI growth agents, which identify leads and execute automated workflows [1][2].

[1]: https://www.clay.com/blog/series-d "Clay raises $115M to be the AI growth engine for every company"
[2]: https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/clay-valued-71-billion-latest-funding-round-ai-agent-startups-run-hot-2026-09-09/ "Clay valued at $7.1 billion in latest funding round as AI agent startups run hot | Reuters"
[3]: https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/13/clay-secures-a-new-round-at-a-3b-valuation-sources-say/ "Clay secures a new round at a $3B valuation, sources say | TechCrunch"
[4]: https://www.clay.com/press "Clay – Newsroom"
[5]: https://www.capitalg.com/insights/clay-the-go-to-market-platform-for-the-ai-era/ "Clay: The Go-To-Market Platform for the AI Era"
[6]: https://www.clay.com/dossier/clay-funding "How Much Did Clay Raise? Funding & Key Investors"
[7]: https://www.reuters.com/technology/clay-valued-31-billion-latest-fundraise-ai-continues-run-hot-2025-08-05/ "Clay valued at $3.1 billion in latest fundraise as AI continues to run hot | Reuters"
[8]: https://sequoiacap.com/article/partnering-with-clay-on-a-mission-to-grow/ "https://sequoiacap.com/article/partnering-with-clay-on-a-mission-to-grow/"

## Sources

- [Clay's website](https://clay.com)
- [Company record, via Exa](https://www.clay.com/)
- [Build on Clay: Clay’s Product Roadmap with CEO Kareem Amin](https://www.clay.com/blog/build-on-clay-clays-product-roadmap-with-ceo-kareem-amin)
- [New and updated integrations in Clay](https://www.clay.com/blog/clay-integrations-september-2026)
- [Clay doubles down on supporting European GTM teams](https://www.clay.com/blog/clay-europe-announcement)
- [Clay acquires Avenue to help growth teams act on intent signals](https://www.clay.com/blog/avenue)
- [Announcing the Clay Partner Program](https://www.clay.com/blog/announcing-the-clay-partner-program)