By Lina Irawan 
In an exclusive revelation to Fortune, Pigment is on the cusp of reaching an impressive $100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), marking its third consecutive year of doubling ARR—a testament to its explosive growth and market traction. The company’s customer base has expanded by a remarkable 74%, attracting industry titans such as Uber, Unilever, Anthropic, and Siemens, all now relying on Pigment’s cutting-edge platform. This growth is further underscored by the fact that 57% of Pigment’s new revenue originates from enterprise-level customers. Critically, Crespo highlights a significant trend: over half of Pigment’s new clients in 2025 migrated from entrenched SaaS giants, representing a staggering 115% year-over-year increase in replacements. This indicates not just new adoption but a profound shift in how large corporations manage their operations, moving away from legacy systems that can no longer meet the demands of a rapidly evolving global economy.
Crespo, alongside co-founder Romain Niccoli, launched Pigment in 2019 with a clear mission: to dismantle the pervasive reliance on outdated spreadsheets and legacy planning tools that still form the foundational infrastructure for core business functions in countless large enterprises. Their innovative pitch centers on an AI-native enterprise performance management (EPM) platform designed to seamlessly integrate data and decision-making across critical departments including finance, sales, human resources, and supply chain. The inherent fragility, lack of real-time capabilities, and scalability issues of traditional spreadsheets, combined with the often-cumbersome nature of older EPM software, left a gaping void in the market—a void Pigment has rapidly filled.
The timing for Pigment’s solution couldn’t be more critical. "Every single CEO or CFO on this planet wants to make fast decisions to react to this macroeconomic environment," Crespo emphasized to Fortune. Her observation points to the increasing volatility characterized by geopolitical conflicts, shifting trade tariffs, persistent inflation, and unpredictable supply chain disruptions. In such an environment, the luxury of waiting months to analyze data and formulate strategic responses is simply no longer viable. Pigment’s platform addresses this directly by aggregating diverse business data into a unified, dynamic system. This allows teams to conduct complex scenario modeling—exploring different oil price trajectories, assessing the impact of new tariff regimes, or simulating various demand shocks—without the risk of corrupting fragile Excel sheets or enduring weeks of specialist reconfiguration. The agility and predictive power offered by Pigment are proving indispensable for leaders striving to navigate uncertainty with speed and precision.
Crespo’s latest strategic initiative, and what she deems Pigment’s "biggest leap yet," is the introduction of the "Modeler Agent." This groundbreaking feature allows users to articulate their planning requirements in natural language. The AI agent then intelligently generates governed, production-ready applications directly on top of Pigment’s robust data engine. Early adopters have reported a dramatic reduction in development times, collapsing processes that once took weeks into mere minutes. Crespo cited Figma, a prominent design software company, which reported achieving "80% of what they wanted to build from a blank page in minutes." This capability democratizes advanced planning and modeling, empowering business users to rapidly iterate and adapt without needing specialized coding or data science expertise.
The market’s confidence in Pigment’s vision is reflected in its substantial financial backing. The company has successfully raised nearly $400 million to date, achieving a coveted unicorn valuation exceeding $1 billion in 2024. This impressive capital influx comes from a diverse group of high-profile investors, including ICONIQ Growth, Meritech, IVP, Greenoaks, Blossom, and Sheryl Sandberg’s fund. Despite this strong financial position, Crespo maintains a measured approach to further capital raises and a potential public offering. "IPO for us would be way, way down the line," she stated, indicating a focus on sustained organic growth and solidifying market leadership rather than rushing towards an exit. This reflects a mature strategic outlook, prioritizing long-term value creation over short-term market fluctuations.
Beyond her entrepreneurial endeavors, Crespo plays a significant role in shaping broader policy discussions, advising French President Emmanuel Macron on artificial intelligence strategy. She is a vocal proponent of "AI sovereignty," advocating for Europe to develop its own robust AI capabilities and infrastructure. However, Crespo deftly balances this national interest with a global ambition. "I do not consider ourselves a French company. I consider ourselves a global company," she asserted. This dual perspective is evident in Pigment’s operational structure, with a predominantly U.S.-based executive team driving global market expansion, while its engineering core remains strategically concentrated in France. Crespo refers to this French talent pool as a "secret weapon," leveraging Europe’s deep well of scientific and technical expertise to build world-class AI solutions.
Crespo’s leadership style is characterized by an unwavering intensity, akin to a founder who constantly feels the need to push further. This drive extends to her perspective on the widely discussed "SaaSpocalypse," a term referring to the potential disruption facing established SaaS companies due to the rapid advancements in AI. In her view, AI acts as a "sorting event," distinguishing between agile new entrants like Pigment, which are built natively with AI at their core, and legacy vendors struggling to retrofit AI onto outdated architectural foundations. She is confident that Pigment’s AI-native approach will allow it to outmaneuver and outpace these incumbents. "It’s a total revolution," she proclaimed, encapsulating the transformative power she believes AI holds for the enterprise software landscape.
The broader venture capital and private equity markets are also witnessing significant activity, reflecting a dynamic investment landscape driven by technological innovation and strategic consolidation. In venture capital, Ayar Labs, a San Jose-based startup focused on making AI chips more efficient, secured a colossal $500 million in Series E funding, with lead investors including NVIDIA, AMD, MediaTek, and Alchip. This highlights the intense competition and massive investment flowing into the foundational hardware layer of the AI revolution. Similarly, Grow Therapy, a New York-based mental health platform, raised $150 million in Series D financing led by TCV and Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, underscoring the continued demand for accessible mental healthcare solutions. Other notable VC rounds include Flink, a Berlin-based speedy grocery startup, raising $100 million; Fig Security and JetStream, both cybersecurity and AI governance firms, securing $38 million and $34 million respectively, signaling heightened concerns over AI security and data integrity. Guild.ai, an AI-native community workspace for developers, received $30 million from Google Ventures and Khosla Ventures, emphasizing the growing ecosystem around AI development. Meanwhile, KeyCare, a virtual care provider built on Epic, raised $27.4 million, and RenoFi, an AI-enabled renovation financing platform, closed a $22 million Series B round led by Fifth Wall. These investments span diverse sectors, from law enforcement intelligence (Multitude Insights with $10 million) and advanced battery technology (EGI Battery Inc. with $10 million) to AI skills training (NextWork with $4.45 million) and mobile gaming (Vento Games with $4 million), collectively painting a picture of robust innovation across various industries.
On the private equity front, The Rise Funds, a TPG arm, invested approximately $250 million in Findhelp, a social care technology platform, demonstrating a focus on impact investing. Espirion, backed by Athyrium Capital Management, acquired biopharmaceutical company Corstasis for $75 million. Gryphon Investors made a majority investment in HRSoft, an enterprise compensation management software provider, while LGPS and Vista Equity Partners invested in Joblogic, a field service management software. Major acquisitions include Thoma Bravo’s definitive agreement to acquire WWEX Group, a leading third-party logistics provider, and Accel-KKR’s majority investment in Whip Around, a fleet maintenance software. These deals underscore the ongoing trend of private equity firms optimizing and consolidating businesses across the logistics, software, and healthcare sectors. A significant move in the renewable energy space saw British Columbia Investment Management, Norges Bank Investment Management, and Brookfield Asset Management launching Northview Energy, a new entity to acquire and own U.S. and Canadian contracted renewable assets, with an equal funding commitment from all three investors.
Exit strategies also saw notable movements, with BlackRock divesting its remaining 11.4% stake in Spanish energy giant Naturgy for $3.25 billion. In another substantial transaction, American Securities agreed to sell CPM Holdings and MW Components, U.S.-based industrial firms, to Rosebank Industries for $3.25 billion, including a potential earnout. Other strategic transactions included Ziff Davis selling its Connectivity division, including Ookla’s Speedtest and Downdetector, to Accenture for $1.2 billion in cash, and Allianz acquiring a 50% stake in 11 battery storage projects from Total Energies for $580 million. The M&A landscape continues to be active, with companies strategically divesting non-core assets or strengthening their portfolios through targeted acquisitions, such as Carta acquiring AI-powered CRM ListAlpha and Körber acquiring SAP supply chain management firm Stellium.
The IPO market also showed signs of life and caution. Billion Group Holdings, a Hong Kong-based food distributor, re-filed for a U.S. IPO aiming to raise $17 million, adjusting its offering after a previous withdrawal. Japanese mobile payment giant PayPay plans to raise $1.0 billion, with cornerstone investors like Qatar Holding, Visa, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority committing a significant portion. Additionally, Vale Base Metals, a global supplier of critical minerals, is reportedly accelerating its IPO plans to midyear, moving up from a previous 2027 target, indicating a window of opportunity for resource-focused companies.
New funds and leadership appointments signal continued evolution in the investment community. Capital Group partnered with KKR to launch the Capital Group KKR U.S. Equity+ fund, offering everyday investors access to KKR strategies. In leadership changes, ArcLight Capital Partners appointed Gary Lambert as a senior advisor for AI-related infrastructure, and Kian Capital Partners promoted Ulrich Erasmus to principal. Oakley Capital also announced several promotions, elevating Alessandro Celli, Konstantin Synetos, Lovis von Andrian, and Mike Mutsaers to partner, and Cristina Popescu, Peter Kisenyi, and Alessandro Costamagna to managing partner, reinforcing their leadership teams.
These market movements underscore a transformative period, profoundly shaped by artificial intelligence. The vision of leaders like Eléonore Crespo at Pigment aligns with broader industry forecasts from influential figures such as Vinod Khosla. In a recent episode of Fortune 500: Titans & Disruptors of Industry, Khosla, an early backer of AI and one of the world’s most consequential venture capitalists, articulated his abundant vision for an AI-powered future where the technology could automate over 80% of labor. This, he posits, would liberate humans to pursue passions rather than necessities. His track record, marked by early investments in OpenAI, DoorDash, Instacart, and Square, lends significant weight to his audacious predictions. Khosla discussed with Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell the profound societal implications of AI, the governmental policies required to foster a more equitable 2040, and the strategic imperatives for the U.S. to lead the global AI race. Pigment’s journey, driven by a "never settle" spirit and an AI-native approach, is a microcosm of this larger revolution, demonstrating how cutting-edge technology is not just optimizing existing business processes but fundamentally reshaping the future of work and enterprise.