Who's making money. Who's failing. What actually works.
Data-driven analysis of the $13B AI agents market.
Coding agents are the template. Cursor ($1B ARR), Claude Code ($400M in 5 months), Copilot ($2B) proved the model: narrow use case, clear ROI, developer adoption, enterprise expansion.
Outcome-based pricing wins. Sierra charges per resolved ticket, not per seat. They hit $100M ARR in 21 months. The old SaaS model is dying.
90% are stuck in pilot. Most agents work in demos but can't reach production. Integration with legacy systems and trust gaps are the blockers.
The 2026 opportunity is orchestration. Individual agents work. Coordinating them doesn't. $30B+ will flow into agent orchestration tooling.
Founders deciding where to build in AI agents
Investors evaluating agent startups
Enterprise leaders planning 2026 AI budgets
Product teams prioritizing agent features