We looked at seven AI-native software companies that Kaizen advised between April 2025 and September 2026. Three were acquired by strategic buyers: Ivoflow by JAGGAER, Cirtuo by Coupa, and LLumin by CAI Software. Four took investments from Thoma Bravo, Charlesbank, Summit Partners, and Sheridan Capital Partners. At the time of their transactions, the seven were growing at an average of 86% a year.
On the surface, the seven have little in common. They serve procurement teams, CPA firms, specialty medical practices, grant-seeking organizations, physical therapy clinics, and manufacturers. What they share is architectural. None of them is an AI feature bolted onto someone else’s workflow. Each owns a critical workflow and uses AI to move it from insight to decision and action.
Buyers are underwriting AI-native platforms, not isolated features.
To compare companies that look nothing alike, we map each one against five layers. Each layer answers a different question about the work the software does.
The first two layers describe what a product knows. The last three describe what it does. A company can sit in one layer or span several, and the further a product moves from knowing to doing, the more of the customer’s outcome it owns.
Tagged against the stack, the seven companies show where buyers are placing their bets.
Every company goes past insight. Knowledge / Intelligence is one of the two most common layers in the set, but no company stops there. All seven also decide, coordinate, or act. Ivoflow and Cirtuo turn spend and market data into supplier and category decisions. HubSync runs the tax engagement from engagement letter to e-file. HBox’s care services manage high-risk patients between visits.
The system of record is a foundation, not the product. Four of the seven own a system of record: HubSync, Instrumentl, PtEverywhere, and LLumin. All four also act on it. PtEverywhere’s AI Scribe turns recorded sessions into SOAP notes that flow into billing and payments, and LLumin turns real-time asset data into maintenance work. Owning the data is what makes the action credible.
Most span several layers. Five of the seven cover three or more layers, and Instrumentl and LLumin cover four. The two that cover two, HBox and PtEverywhere, pair a data layer with action: device and patient data with care delivery, and the clinical record with billing.
Kaizen served as exclusive advisor to each of the seven companies.
AI-native price intelligence for direct materials. Ivoflow’s agents dissect supplier price-increase requests into raw-material, FX, and labor drivers and benchmark each one against live market data, so manufacturers can see how much of an increase is justified. Read JAGGAER’s announcement.
An agentic operating system for CPA firms. HubSync Halo’s AI agents draft engagement letters, classify documents, extract tax data, and e-file, with firm staff approving the key steps. Thoma Bravo’s strategic growth investment exceeded $100 million. Read Thoma Bravo’s announcement.
AI-native virtual and remote continuous care for cardiology, pulmonology, and nephrology practices. HBox combines connected devices, patient engagement, and care services to manage high-risk patients between visits. The investment came from Charlesbank’s Technology Opportunities Fund. Read the announcement.
An AI grant-fundraising platform. Instrumentl matches 450,000+ funder profiles to the needs of each grant-seeking organization, drafts proposals from past applications, and tracks post-award budgets and compliance. Summit Partners invested $55 million. Read the announcement.
An AI-native EMR and practice management platform for cash-pay and hybrid physical therapy clinics. Its built-in AI Scribe turns recorded sessions into SOAP notes that flow into billing and payments. Read Sheridan’s announcement.
AI-native category management for enterprise procurement. Cirtuo turns spend and market intelligence into guided category and supplier strategies, then tracks savings initiatives to measurable impact. Read Coupa’s announcement.
AI-powered predictive maintenance for manufacturers. LLumin’s CMMS+ automates maintenance work with real-time asset monitoring, rules-based alerts, and AI-driven analytics. LLumin says the approach can cut repair work and costs by up to 40%. Read CAI Software’s announcement.
If you are building AI-native software and weighing a raise or a sale, expect buyers to run your product through some version of this stack. Four questions are worth answering before they do.
Kaizen is a sell-side only investment bank for software and AI-native businesses. To compare notes on where your company sits in the stack, talk to our team.
