Octolane, a San Francisco-based startup founded by two Bangladeshi immigrants, has raised USD 2.6 million in a seed funding round to launch what it calls the world's first self-driving AI-powered CRM platform. The round was led by prominent investors including Brian Shin (early investor in HubSpot and Drift), Kulveer Taggar, Cindy Bi (CapitalX), Lan Xuezhao (Basis Set Ventures), Dave Messina (Pioneer Fund), and Arash Ferdowsi. General Catalyst Apex, the new early-stage initiative from General Catalyst, also participated.

Founded by Md Abdul Halim Rafi and One Chowdhury, Octolane aims to automate and streamline the CRM process using large language models (LLMs) and proprietary AI tools. The platform is designed to eliminate manual data entry, analyze customer interactions in real time, and recommend next steps for sales teams. The system automatically extracts key details from emails, meetings, and documents to update customer records. It can also generate personalised follow-up emails, and detect buyer intent, reducing the need for manual input by sales representatives. This brings down the administrative burden on sales teams, allowing them to focus on engaging with prospects rather than updating databases. The platform also offers predictive task generation, and automated meeting analysis — all of which are critical in high-volume B2B sales environments.

In its early rollout, Octolane is targeting businesses currently using platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive. According to the company, more than 200 businesses have already joined the platform, with over 5000 on the waitlist. Early adopters have cited increased productivity, fewer missed follow-ups, and reduced dependence on multiple standalone sales tools as key benefits of the platform. The idea for the company took shape after the founders, who both grew up in Bangladesh and later moved to the United States., saw the limitations of traditional CRM systems firsthand. Chowdhury dropped out of Duke University to pursue the startup full-time, joining Rafi to build a product aimed at replacing older, more complex systems with something lightweight and AI-native.

Investors were drawn to the founders' technical capabilities and their focus on solving a persistent pain point in the sales tech space. With this funding, Octolane plans to scale its engineering team, accelerate product development, and refine its AI engine to serve a broader range of sales environments. The company will also invest in expanding its integration ecosystem, ensuring that Octolane can operate alongside, or eventually replace, existing tools in the sales tech stack. 

The global CRM software market, valued at over USD 100 billion in 2024, is expected to surpass USD 300 billion by 2030, driven largely by demand for automation, data-driven decision-making, and integrated sales solutions. Octolane's entry into this market comes at a time when companies are increasingly seeking tools that require less upkeep and offer more intelligent insights, especially as remote work and digital-first sales channels become the norm.