Is Autumn AI profitable in 2026?

No confirmed profitability. A third-party analysis reported Autumn AI joined YC W2026 with zero revenue and reached about $30K MRR (roughly $360K annualized) by July 22, 2026, per a single-source, unconfirmed report, not a company filing.

Could AI replace Autumn AI's product?

Largely yes. A third-party technical review gave Autumn AI a Replicability Score of 48/100, estimating two strong engineers could build a credible clone of its public-data-monitoring core loop in about three months, per a July 22, 2026 assessment.

Who founded Autumn AI?

Autumn AI was co-founded by Vishnu Sampathkumar (CEO) and Shiv Kampani (CTO), both 2025 Columbia University computer science graduates who met at student orientation, per the company's YC profile as of July 2026.

Who is Autumn AI's biggest competitor?

ZoomInfo and Apollo.io pose the largest threat. ZoomInfo shipped Claude and ChatGPT MCP connectors plus a Salesforce Prospecting Agent partnership in 2025-2026, while Apollo (500,000+ customers, profitable) acquired signal startup Pocus on March 18, 2026.

How much funding has Autumn AI raised?

Unclear and inconsistent. As of July 2026, aggregators variously listed $28K raised, 'never raised funding,' or an unspecified seed round; no primary press release or funding announcement was found to confirm any figure.

What does Autumn AI actually do?

Autumn AI monitors LinkedIn, X, GitHub, SEC filings, job listings, code commits and blogs to alert sales teams in real time when a prospect matches their Ideal Customer Profile, per its YC launch page dated February 5, 2026.

YC Winter 2026 · United States

Autumn AI

Scrapes LinkedIn, GitHub, X, SEC filings to alert sales teams on buying signals.

Losing its protection

Assessed 27 July 2026 · Evidence as of 27 July 2026

The structural protection is eroding.

On the recordSince 27 July 2026 · Checkable from Q1 2027 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Six-month post-batch window to show a funding round, a named customer, or an exclusive data deal before the gap closes

The call

A two-person team running a public-data scraper that bigger, older platforms are already matching feature for feature.

Autumn AI watches LinkedIn, GitHub, and other public websites to find sales leads that match what companies are looking for, then sends alerts. The problem is that ZoomInfo, Apollo, and Clay have already built the same thing and have hundreds of thousands of customers already paying them for it. Three engineers at a startup could copy Autumn's core idea in about three months, and there is nothing stopping the bigger companies from doing it either. The one thing that could matter: if Autumn can lock customers in by becoming the brain that runs inside these companies' own AI assistants before the big players build that themselves, it might survive the next year or two.

Why

AI pressure: General-purpose AI browsing agents (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini with MCP tools). The scrape-and-alert loop Autumn runs is exactly what frontier agents can already do on public data with no private edge. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.

Bigger players: ZoomInfo, Apollo.io, Clay, HubSpot (Warmly), Zoom (Common Room). ZoomInfo has live MCP connectors and a Salesforce Prospecting Agent deal; HubSpot and Zoom bought signal startups outright in 2026. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.

What protects it. An early MCP tool for AI sales agents, but with two founders, no named customers, and no owned data, it buys months, not years.

What would change this call

ZoomInfo's AI Data Agent or Clay's Claygent ships multi-source public data monitoring to their existing customer base. Would turn Autumn AI's core feature into a commodity add-on at incumbents, closing its window.
Autumn AI announces a follow-on seed round or a named customer logo with disclosed contract value within 6 months. Would show real traction and investor confidence beyond the unconfirmed $30K MRR claim.
ZoomInfo, Apollo, or Clay announces acquisition of another signal-layer startup in the next 6 months. Would confirm rapid category consolidation is squeezing out independent players like Autumn AI.

Key numbers

Team size: 2 co-founders (2026-07-22)
Replicability score: 48/100, cloneable in about 3 months (2026-07-22)
Apollo.io: 500,000+ customers, profitable, 10 years running (2025-09-17)

Named risks

Core scraping/pattern-matching loop replicable by two engineers in ~3 months (48/100 score). Severity: high
Category consolidating via incumbent acquisitions (Warmly, Common Room, Pocus) squeezing independents. Severity: high
Two-person team with no confirmed funding round as of Jul 2026. Severity: medium
Traction figures ($30K MRR) unconfirmed, single-source, no named customer logos. Severity: medium
Name confusion with unrelated YC company 'Autumn' (billing infrastructure). Severity: low

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
ZoomInfo	gaining on	Shipped Claude/ChatGPT MCP connectors and Salesforce Prospecting Agent partnership, 2025-2026
Apollo.io	gaining on	Acquired signal startup Pocus Mar 18, 2026; 500,000+ customers, profitable
Clay	contesting	Claygent agentic enrichment tool shipped, per Jun 17, 2026 review
HubSpot	gaining on	Acquired signal startup Warmly Jun 30, 2026
Zoom	gaining on	Acquired signal startup Common Room Jul 2, 2026

Questions people ask

Is Autumn AI profitable in 2026?: No confirmed profitability. A third-party analysis reported Autumn AI joined YC W2026 with zero revenue and reached about $30K MRR (roughly $360K annualized) by July 22, 2026, per a single-source, unconfirmed report, not a company filing.
Could AI replace Autumn AI's product?: Largely yes. A third-party technical review gave Autumn AI a Replicability Score of 48/100, estimating two strong engineers could build a credible clone of its public-data-monitoring core loop in about three months, per a July 22, 2026 assessment.
Who founded Autumn AI?: Autumn AI was co-founded by Vishnu Sampathkumar (CEO) and Shiv Kampani (CTO), both 2025 Columbia University computer science graduates who met at student orientation, per the company's YC profile as of July 2026.
Who is Autumn AI's biggest competitor?: ZoomInfo and Apollo.io pose the largest threat. ZoomInfo shipped Claude and ChatGPT MCP connectors plus a Salesforce Prospecting Agent partnership in 2025-2026, while Apollo (500,000+ customers, profitable) acquired signal startup Pocus on March 18, 2026.
How much funding has Autumn AI raised?: Unclear and inconsistent. As of July 2026, aggregators variously listed $28K raised, 'never raised funding,' or an unspecified seed round; no primary press release or funding announcement was found to confirm any figure.
What does Autumn AI actually do?: Autumn AI monitors LinkedIn, X, GitHub, SEC filings, job listings, code commits and blogs to alert sales teams in real time when a prospect matches their Ideal Customer Profile, per its YC launch page dated February 5, 2026.

Timeline

2026-07-22Third-party report cites Autumn AI at ~$30K MRR and 2-person team (unconfirmed, single-source)
2026-07-02Zoom acquired signal-layer competitor Common Room
2026-06-30HubSpot acquired signal-layer competitor Warmly
2026-03-18Apollo.io acquired signal-layer competitor Pocus
2026-02-05Autumn AI publicly launched via Y Combinator
2025-12Salesloft and Clari merged in adjacent GTM category
2025Autumn AI founded by Vishnu Sampathkumar and Shiv Kampani

Revision history

27 July 2026

First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

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