Champ AI exits stealth mode with $8.5 million in funding, led by Redpoint Ventures.
The trio of cofounders served nearly a decade as engineers at Instacart.
Champ AI leverages AI agents to streamline phone calls, paperwork, and browser activities.

After almost ten years engineering at Instacart, the founders of Champ AI discovered a harsh reality: company growth often leads to overwhelming back-office tasks. They have now secured $8.5 million to develop AI agents that handle operations for back-office teams.

"We witnessed operations teams grappling with numerous manual workflows, especially as businesses expand," said Champ AI cofounder and CEO Jagannath Putrevu in an interview with Business Insider. Tasks included resolving orders, updating store schedules, probing fraud cases, and adhering to customer-support guidelines. These duties frequently demanded operations staff to shuffle between documents, internal tools, forms, and phone conversations, according to Putrevu.

Putrevu, along with cofounders Ted Cheng and Peter Lin, established Champ AI last year to eliminate such manual labor for other firms. The company has revealed itself from stealth, announcing $8.5 million in seed funding spearheaded by Redpoint Ventures, joined by defy.vc and SV Angel. They also gained angel funding from their ex-boss, Instacart cofounder Max Mullen.

Champ's platform converts a firm's internal guidelines into executable computer actions - like accessing websites, selecting buttons, retrieving files, populating spreadsheets, dispatching emails, and placing calls.

"Our agent serves as both the intellect and the executor, determining required steps and carrying them out," Putrevu explained.

Champ AI boasts over 10 paying clients in logistics, healthcare, and e-commerce sectors, Putrevu noted. Arena Club, a marketplace for sports and entertainment cards, reported a 30% acceleration in card-processing thanks to Champ AI.

The startup enters a competitive landscape, facing established players like UiPath, Automation Anywhere, and Microsoft Power Automate, plus emerging AI-agent firms focused on browser automation and support functions. Champ also targets tasks typically outsourced to business process firms with vast offshore workforces.

Putrevu emphasized that Champ AI does not aim to supplant operations teams. Firms still require humans to oversee processes, supervise agents, and evaluate outcomes. Yet the tool enables quicker in-house management, bypassing lengthy onboarding for external teams.

"We have clients who consult us first for new product launches, configuring everything via Champ," Putrevu added. This approach cuts product rollout from months to weeks.

With a team of six, Champ plans to invest the funds in recruiting software engineers, forward-deployed specialists, and sales professionals.