Convey secures $38 million from a16z for AI 'team members.'

      The term “agent” is prevalent in enterprise software today, which is precisely why Convey chooses to avoid it. The startup has secured a $38 million Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Khosla Ventures and Pear VC. Their approach is a purposeful rebranding: they prefer to refer to AI as “teammates” that are accountable for outcomes, rather than AI agents that simply complete tasks.

      “Agents seem to be overused at this point,” stated co-founder and CEO Rohan Chopra in an interview with Business Insider. “We highlight teammate over agent because the teammate is accountable for results, not just isolated tasks.”

      From DoorDash to tedious office work

      Chopra, who was among DoorDash’s first employees, attributes the concept to a former colleague who used to manually text drivers to assign deliveries. DoorDash automated that process, and Convey aims to achieve the same for businesses lacking DoorDash’s engineering resources.

      In practical terms, Convey targets the less desirable tasks: processing orders, reconciling invoices, and generating countless customer reports. The company claims it has already completed over a million hours of this type of work autonomously for clients such as NBCUniversal, Unity, and ChargePoint, although that figure is self-reported.

      Entering the layoff discourse

      The timing is sensitive. Convey is marketing automation as Snap, Block, and Wix refer to AI in their workforce reductions, and Chopra emphasizes that his goal is to liberate individuals from undesirable tasks rather than to replace them.

      This narrative is comforting, and it serves a purpose. The unvarnished truth is that the technology can serve both functions, and which path prevails will depend on the purchasing company.

      The actual danger

      The more significant concern lies not in the framing but in the industry giants. OpenAI and Anthropic are delving deeper into agents and could potentially capture a significant portion of this market themselves.

      Chopra is betting that a concentrated focus surpasses widespread offerings, similar to how DoorDash endured despite Uber. Perhaps. However, being just under a year old, with a single product category and a term that competitors can easily replicate, Convey is risking that “teammate” serves as a protective barrier. It seems more like just an initial advantage.

      Published June 17, 2026 - 2:47 pm UTC