Pursuit, a U.S.-based AI platform for govtech and SaaS sales teams, has raised $22M in Series A funding led by Builders VC. The platform detects buying signals from 110,000+ SLED entities 6-18 months before RFPs, delivering intel via Chrome extension, alerts, and CRM integrations. The capital will fuel engineering, go-to-market, and customer success hiring.
AI Unlocks $1.5T SLED Pipeline
State, local, and education governments spend over $1.5T annually, yet fragmented public data hides opportunities until late RFPs. Pursuit's timing aligns with GovTech market growth from $825B in 2026 to $3,091B by 2035. Competitors like Deltek GovWin IQ focus on post-RFP tracking via analysts, while Pursuit uses AI for pre-RFP signals from budgets and meetings.
Opaque Data Stalls Gov Sales
Sales teams waste time on manual research across 110K+ entities' documents, FOIAs, and council videos. Traditional tools like GovWin rely on 150+ analysts for opportunities already public, missing early signals. SLED IT spending heads to $160B by 2026, but opaque procurement cycles demand forward intel. Pursuit customers report 6.6x pipeline growth without new hires, like CentralSquare.
Pre-RFP Signals via AI Radar
Pursuit processes millions of FOIA records and 30M documents yearly into verified opportunities with contacts and intent scores. Tools like Radar Inbox and territory planning turn signals into pipeline, integrating with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Slack. Unlike GovSpend's historical spend focus, Pursuit embeds intel in sales workflows via Chrome extension.
As Mike Vichich, Cofounder and CEO, noted:
"We turn fragmented public data into fully researched opportunities."
The $1M revenue guarantee within 90 days underscores delivery confidence.
VC Heavyweights Signal Conviction
Mike Rosengarten of Builders VC led the round, with Bill Gurley, Jack Altman of Alt Capital, Blake Robbins of Hidden Capital, and others joining. Total funding reaches $25.5M. This mix validates AI's role in taming SLED opacity for customers like Tyler Technologies, Datadog, and Granicus.
Founders' $187M Exit Fuels Scale
CEO Mike Vichich cofounded Wisely, sold to Olo for $187M in 2021, bringing B2B SaaS scaling expertise. CTO Brandon Max, Wisely engineer turned LlamaIndex advocate, drives AI pipelines. Their track record powers Pursuit's quarterly releases since 2023.
GovTech Hits $3T Horizon
GovTech expands at 15%+ CAGR, driven by AI procurement tools amid $2T public spending. Incumbents like Bloomberg Government offer broad analytics, but lag in SLED-specific pre-RFP AI. Pursuit's SOC 2 Type II compliance and Channel Partner program position it for enterprise adoption.
Hiring Drives Product Expansion
Post-funding, Pursuit plans hires in engineering, GTM, and customer success. Winter 2026 release added Contact Graph and Canadian coverage. The $1M guarantee and performance-based partnerships signal aggressive scaling into FY2026 budgets.