Prentis, an innovative AI research laboratory specializing in computer use models, is reportedly in discussions to secure $100 million in funding at an impressive $1 billion valuation. Co-founded by prolific entrepreneur Ritankar Das alongside tech luminaries Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus, this venture is quickly drawing significant attention, according to sources close to the negotiations.
Launched in April, Prentis is dedicated to developing sophisticated models that observe and learn how office professionals execute routine tasks across various documents and digital systems. Its ultimate objective is to engineer advanced AI agents capable of autonomously controlling computers to automate these common workflows.
The startup's vision includes crafting bespoke agents tailored to specific customer requirements. Examples of these applications range from efficiently managing insurance claims to automating complex customs duty refund exceptions, thereby eliminating the need for human intervention in paperwork retrieval.
Prentis has already secured contracts totaling up to $50 million with a diverse clientele, which includes a healthcare management service organization, a prominent manufacturer, and several goods and clothing producers, as confirmed by two individuals familiar with the matter to TechCrunch. This early commercial traction aligns with investor materials obtained by TechCrunch, which project an estimated annualized run rate of $75 million by the third quarter of this year. It's important to note, however, that Prentis's pitch deck clarifies these figures represent an estimated annualized value based on a contracted fee equivalent to 20% of realized savings, rather than recognized revenue, and are "performance-dependent and subject to final execution."
Internally, Prentis asserts that its Hive-32B model demonstrates superior performance compared to leading competitors, including OpenAI’s GPT-5.4 and Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6. This claim is based on two key computer-use benchmarks: WindowsAgentArena, which assesses end-to-end task completion within actual Windows applications, and ScreenSpot-v2, designed to test a model's proficiency in accurately identifying on-screen controls.
The company's pitch deck further posits that its competitive advantage stems from operating a considerably smaller and more cost-effective model. Prentis claims its solution offers approximately 10 times lower cost per task than leading frontier APIs, making it a more economical choice for integration into daily workflows. TechCrunch, however, has not independently verified these benchmark results.
Prentis is making a strategic bet that the automation of everyday office tasks will soon eclipse coding as the most significant application for AI. This ambition places it in a highly competitive arena, with major players like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab also actively developing AI agents for computer interaction, as indicated by one source. Anthropic, in particular, has been aggressively bolstering its talent in this sector, having acquired the Seattle-based computer-use startup Vercepte earlier this year, integrating its founders and discontinuing its product.
Prentis did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
Ritankar Das, who serves as CEO of Prentis, is also the founder of Titan, a holding company dedicated to building and operating AI enterprises. At 31, Das holds the distinction of being UC Berkeley’s youngest University Medalist in over a century, having graduated at 18 with dual degrees in bioengineering and chemical biology before pursuing a master’s in biomedical engineering at Oxford.
His entrepreneurial journey with Titan began in 2014, following his decision to leave an AI PhD program at Cambridge, where he was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. Das has characterized Titan as a deliberate return to an enduring holding-company structure, akin to Berkshire Hathaway, funded through the successes of its own ventures rather than relying on external limited partners.
Titan's portfolio includes other notable successes, such as Tala Health, an AI-powered virtual care provider that secured a $100 million seed round last year, and Forta Health, an autism care startup that raised $55 million in a round led by Insight Partners in 2024. Furthermore, Dascena, a disease prediction company also founded under the Titan umbrella, was acquired by CirrusDx in 2022.
For its other two co-founders, Prentis represents somewhat of a "side project." Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn and a Greylock partner, recently announced his departure from Microsoft’s board after nearly a decade to shift into "founder mode" for Manas AI, an AI drug-discovery startup he also supports. Hoffman is also known as an early investor in OpenAI and co-founded Inflection AI with Mustafa Suleyman before Microsoft integrated most of that team in 2024.
Mark Pincus, the founder of Zynga, currently co-manages the investment firm Reinvent Capital, with Hoffman serving as a senior adviser. Pincus also released his memoir, “Life at the Speed of Play,” last month.
Prentis has rapidly assembled a skilled team, now exceeding 25 employees, including researchers who previously held positions at leading technology and AI companies such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Meta, Tencent, and Alibaba, as detailed on its official website.
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