IBM Ventures invests in Leena AI to take AI agents into back office
- IBM Ventures, IBM’s venture capital arm, made a strategic investment in Leena AI.
- Leena AI’s agents work across systems including SAP, Workday and ServiceNow.
- Leena AI says it automates more than 500 global enterprises.
- Its existing backers include Greycroft and Bessemer Venture Partners.
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — IBM Ventures, the venture capital arm of IBM, has made a strategic investment in Leena AI, an enterprise agentic AI company whose autonomous agents handle HR, IT and finance work.
The investment will support Leena AI’s growth as enterprises look for AI agents that run back-office processes end to end rather than simply answer questions.
Agents inside existing systems
Leena AI announced the investment in a press release on Oct. 20.
Its AI Colleague platform deploys agents that resolve employee requests, execute multi-step workflows and act across the systems large enterprises already run. Those systems include SAP, Workday, Salesforce, Oracle and ServiceNow.
The New York-headquartered company says it automates more than 500 global enterprises. It has been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for three consecutive years.
“Enterprises are done experimenting with AI that talks. They want AI that does,” said Adit Jain, co-founder and chief executive officer of Leena AI.
He said enterprises want “agents that own a process, do the job and close the loop inside the systems they already own.”
“IBM has spent decades earning the trust of the world’s largest organizations,” Jain said.
“Backing from IBM Ventures is a strong signal that agentic AI for the back office is ready for that scale, and we are proud to build toward it with IBM,” he said.
Why IBM backed it
“What stood out with Leena AI is its focus on the back office, where agentic AI meets real operational complexity across HR, IT and Finance,” said Emily Fontaine, global head of IBM Ventures.
She said Leena AI’s approach “complements IBM’s work in AI orchestration and governance.”
IBM Ventures invests in early- and growth-stage companies building enterprise technology across AI, security and quantum computing. It focuses on companies whose capabilities complement IBM‘s portfolio and serve its global enterprise clients.
The investment joins Leena AI’s existing backers, which include Greycroft and Bessemer Venture Partners.
IBM’s wider AI bets
The deal adds to IBM’s activity in enterprise AI. OA reported in June 2025 that IBM had acquired Seek AI and launched a Watsonx AI Labs accelerator in New York City.
What it means for buyers
For enterprises that outsource HR, IT or finance support, agentic platforms such as Leena AI’s aim to take over employee requests and multi-step workflows inside existing systems.
Buyers weighing back office outsourcing against artificial intelligence (AI) agents can compare providers on the top AI outsourcing companies list.
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