Startups > Clay

Clay

Clay helps sales teams find and reach customers using AI-powered data enrichment.

Series C $204M total Founded 2017 New York, New York 902 employees

Clay is a data enrichment and automation platform that enables sales and growth teams to find, research, and personalize outreach to leads at scale. It functions as a smart spreadsheet that orchestrates data from 150+ sources, applies AI-powered workflows for enrichment and content generation, and automates prospecting without manual labor. Clay uses signal-led prospecting to identify buyers based on real-world triggers like funding rounds or hiring, making personalized outreach possible without expensive tools or manual work.

Problem solved

Sales teams waste time manually researching leads, enriching incomplete contact data, and personalizing outreach across multiple tools and data sources.

Target customer

Sales, revenue operations, and GTM teams at B2B SaaS companies, venture-backed startups, and AI-native companies looking to scale personalized outreach without manual research.

Website LinkedIn Crunchbase Twitter / X

Founders

Kareem Amin

CEO & Co-Founder

Seasoned tech entrepreneur who founded Frame (acquired by Sailthru 2012), served as VP of Product at The Wall Street Journal, and previously worked as a Software Developer and Program Manager at Microsoft; holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Physics from McGill University.

Varun Anand

Co-Founder & Head of Operations

Operations leader who previously served as Director of Operations at Newfront and Head of Expansion at Candid; joined Clay in 2021.

Funding history

Seed $2.5M 2017 Led by First Round Capital · Unknown

Series A $13.5M 2019 Led by Sequoia Capital · Unknown

Series B $46M June 2024 Led by Meritech Capital · Unknown

Series B Expansion $40M January 2025 Led by Meritech Capital · Unknown

Series C $100M August 2025 Led by CapitalG · Meritech Capital, Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital, BoxGroup, Boldstart, Sapphire Ventures

Total raised: $204M

Industries

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Developer Tools Lead Generation Productivity Tools Sales Automation Software

Pricing

Credit-based pricing starting at $149/month. Tiers include Free plan with limited credits, Starter ($149/month), Explorer ($349/month), and Pro ($800/month). Free trial available.

Notable customers

OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor, Canva, Intercom, Rippling

Integrations

OpenAI API, LinkedIn, CRMs, company websites, HubSpot, Salesforce, API connections to 150+ data sources

Tech stack

jQuery (JavaScript libraries) core-js (JavaScript libraries) Swiper (JavaScript libraries) Open Graph LottieFiles Lucky Orange (Analytics) Google Analytics (Analytics) Google Workspace (Email) Cloudflare (CDN) jsDelivr (CDN) cdnjs (CDN) HubSpot (Marketing automation) Linkedin Ads (Advertising) Google Tag Manager (Tag managers) Webflow (Page builders) Amazon Web Services (PaaS) Rewardful (Affiliate programs) Clickbank (Affiliate programs)

Website

clay.com/

Competitors

Apollo.io

Apollo provides a fixed contact database with integrated outreach tools for faster execution out-of-the-box, while Clay offers a more flexible platform with custom enrichment workflows through 150+ data providers but requires more setup.

Lusha

Lusha focuses on integrated lead finding and engagement, while Clay excels at granular data enrichment waterfalls and custom workflows across multiple data sources.

ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo is the enterprise standard with deep firmographic insights and extensive company hierarchy data, while Clay specializes in flexible data orchestration and AI-powered personalization for mid-market and growth-stage teams.

LeadIQ

LeadIQ focuses on LinkedIn-based prospecting, while Clay integrates 150+ data sources and AI automation for deeper enrichment and personalization.

RelPro

RelPro targets relationship intelligence, while Clay emphasizes data orchestration and signal-led prospecting across multiple sources.

Why this matters: Clay hit $100M ARR in just two years and raised a $100M Series C at a $3.1B valuation in August 2025, making it one of the fastest-growing SaaS startups. The company pioneered the GTM Engineering role, demonstrating how AI-powered tools can create new job categories rather than just replace workers, which has influenced hiring at companies like Cursor and Webflow.

Best for: Sales development reps, revenue operations professionals, and growth teams at B2B SaaS companies who need to automate personalized prospecting and lead enrichment at scale without manual research.

Use cases

Signal-Led Prospecting

Instead of buying static lead lists, sales teams use Clay to scan 100+ data sources simultaneously to identify companies experiencing specific triggers like new hires, funding rounds, or technology stack changes. This approach finds warm leads with higher intent than batch-and-blast outreach, enabling more effective personalization and higher response rates.

Lead Enrichment & Data Waterfall

Teams upload incomplete contact lists and use Clay's waterfall logic to enrich data across multiple sources, automatically filling in missing phone numbers, email addresses, job titles, and company information. This creates a clean, comprehensive dataset for targeted outreach without manual research or expensive data vendors.

Personalized Outreach Automation

Sales teams use Clay's AI workflows to generate personalized emails, LinkedIn messages, and sales notes based on research data, company context, and individual signals. This scales personalized, one-to-one outreach that would normally require hours of manual work per prospect, increasing response rates while reducing SDR busywork.

GTM Engineering Workflows

Revenue operations and GTM engineering teams build custom Clay workflows to orchestrate data pulls, enrichment, AI analysis, and CRM syncing without requiring engineering sprints. This enables non-technical team members to set up complex prospecting and research pipelines that previously required developer resources.

Alternatives

Apollo.io Choose Apollo if you want an all-in-one platform with pre-built contact database, email sending, and LinkedIn outreach integrated; choose Clay if you need deeper customization and access to more data sources.

ZoomInfo Choose ZoomInfo if you're an enterprise buyer needing deep firmographic data and sales intelligence; choose Clay if you're a mid-market or growth-stage team wanting flexible data orchestration and AI automation.

Lusha Choose Lusha if you want one platform for lead finding and email/LinkedIn outreach; choose Clay if you need more granular control over data enrichment workflows and access to 150+ sources.

FAQ

What does Clay do? +

Clay is a data enrichment and automation platform that helps sales teams find, research, and personalize outreach to leads at scale. It orchestrates data from 150+ sources, applies AI-powered workflows for enrichment and content generation, and automates prospecting through signal-led triggers like funding rounds or new hires. Users build custom workflows in a spreadsheet-like interface without needing engineering support.

How much does Clay cost? +

Clay uses credit-based pricing starting at $149/month for the Starter plan, $349/month for Explorer, and $800/month for Pro. A free plan with limited credits is available, and Clay offers a free trial.

What are alternatives to Clay? +

Apollo.io (all-in-one prospecting platform with pre-built database), ZoomInfo (enterprise data intelligence), Lusha (lead finding and engagement), LeadIQ (LinkedIn-based prospecting), and RelPro (relationship intelligence).

Who uses Clay? +

Clay serves sales development reps, revenue operations professionals, and GTM teams at B2B SaaS companies and AI-native startups. Notable customers include OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor, Canva, Intercom, and Rippling. Over 14,000 customers use Clay globally.

How does Clay compare to Apollo.io? +

Apollo provides a fixed contact database with integrated email and LinkedIn outreach for faster out-of-the-box execution. Clay offers a more flexible platform that integrates 150+ data sources and requires more setup but yields better data quality through custom enrichment waterfalls and AI automation. Choose Apollo for speed and simplicity; choose Clay for customization and data depth.

What makes Clay unique? +

Clay pioneered the concept of 'GTM Engineering'—enabling non-technical revenue teams to build complex, custom prospecting workflows without engineering sprints. Its signal-led prospecting approach and access to 150+ data sources via waterfall logic differentiates it from fixed-database competitors. With $100M+ ARR in 2024 and $3.1B valuation in Series C, Clay has become the platform of choice for AI companies and fast-growing SaaS teams.