[funding] · · 1 min read
Prentis, a new AI lab co-founded by Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus, seeks $100M for computer-use agents
The startup, founded by Ritankar Das, claims its smaller model outperforms GPT-5.4 and Claude Opus 4.6 on benchmarks for automating office workflows.
By ByteBulletin Editors · Editorial Team
Prentis, a new AI research lab focused on computer-use models, is in talks to raise $100 million at a $1 billion valuation, according to sources familiar with the discussions. Co-founded by serial entrepreneur Ritankar Das alongside LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Zynga founder Mark Pincus, the startup is training models to understand how office workers navigate workflows across documents and systems, with the goal of building AI agents that can control computers to automate those tasks.
Launching in April, Prentis has already signed contracts worth up to $50 million with customers including a healthcare management service organization and manufacturers, targeting use cases like handling insurance claims and automating customs duty refund exceptions. Investor materials project an estimated $75 million annualized run rate by Q3 of this year, though that figure is based on a contracted fee of 20% of savings realized and is performance-dependent.
The company claims its Hive-32B model outperforms OpenAI’s GPT-5.4 and Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6 on two computer-use benchmarks: WindowsAgentArena and ScreenSpot-v2. Prentis argues its edge comes from running a much smaller, cheaper model — roughly 10 times lower cost per task than frontier APIs — making it more economical for everyday workflows. TechCrunch has not independently verified these results.
Prentis enters a crowded market; Anthropic, OpenAI, and Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab are also developing computer-use agents. Anthropic notably acquired the Seattle-based startup Vercept earlier this year.
The company has already hired over 25 employees, including researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Meta, Tencent, and Alibaba. Das, now 31, was previously the founder of Titan, a holding company that builds and operates AI companies, and was UC Berkeley’s youngest University Medalist. Hoffman is stepping back from Microsoft’s board to focus on AI ventures, while Pincus runs investment firm Reinvent Capital.
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