Clay, the AI-powered sales-and-marketing automation startup, is raising a new round led by Wellington Management at a $7 billion pre-money valuation, Axios reported Aug. 31 -- the company's fourth valuation increase in roughly nineteen months and more than double where it stood at the start of the year. Neither the amount being raised nor the resulting post-money valuation has been disclosed, and Clay has not confirmed the figure publicly on its own channels.
The pattern is what stands out. Clay has now been valued at $1.25 billion (Feb. 2025), $1.5 billion (May 2025, a Sequoia-led tender), $3.1 billion (Aug. 2025 Series C, led by CapitalG), $5 billion (Jan. 2026 tender, led by DST Global) and now $7 billion -- five marks in eighteen months. CEO Kareem Amin has tied the growth to what he calls GTM engineering: AI agents that research prospects, personalize outreach and flag revenue opportunities across a stated 150-plus data sources, used by OpenAI, Anthropic and Cursor among Clay's 10,000-plus customers.
“GTM engineering represents the first true AI-native profession, and we believe that it will be tech's next big job category.” — Kareem Amin, CEO, Clay
Three of those five marks were employee tender offers -- secondary sales of existing shares, not new capital into the company -- a different instrument from a primary venture round even when the headline number invites the same comparison. Clay's underlying business has kept pace regardless: the company had passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue around its January tender and was independently estimated near $150 million ARR by May, with Clay itself saying full-year revenue is on track to more than triple.
Clay's valuation, four marks in nineteen months
- $3.1B · Aug 2025
- Series C, $100M raised
Includes: New primary capital, led by CapitalG
Excludes: Any secondary/employee liquidity - $5B · Jan 2026
- Employee tender offer, $55M
Includes: Secondary shares only, led by DST Global
Excludes: New capital into the company itself - $7B · Aug 2026
- New round, pre-money
Includes: Reported terms so far: led by Wellington Management
Excludes: Amount raised and post-money valuation, not yet disclosed
- Clay is raising at a $7 billion pre-money valuation, led by Wellington Management, Axios reported Aug. 31.
- It's Clay's fourth valuation jump in about nineteen months, following $1.25B, $3.1B and $5B marks.
- Three of the five prior marks were employee tender offers, not new-money rounds into the company.
- Clay's AI sales-automation agents research prospects and personalize outreach across 150+ data sources.
- Caveat: the amount raised and Clay's post-money valuation for this round haven't been disclosed.