As technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, new innovations are constantly emerging, transforming the way businesses operate. One of the most talked about developments in enterprise software in recent years was ‘robotic process automation’ (RPA). However, it seems that this technology, which aimed to automate repetitive business processes, did not quite live up to its promise.
But now, with the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), the missing key to building efficient automated systems may have been discovered. Tektonic, a Seattle-based startup, is one of the companies at the forefront of this revolutionary approach. Combining GenAI with traditional symbolic methods, Tektonic has just emerged from stealth mode and announced a $10 million seed funding round led by Point72 Ventures and Madrona Ventures.
The concept behind Tektonic’s platform is to allow users to work with GenAI agents using natural language, enabling them to create automated workflows effortlessly. One specific area the company highlights is the quote and renewal process, which often involves numerous manual tasks that are challenging to automate due to variations in each business’ unique processes.
Co-founded by Nic Surpatanu, who has extensive leadership experience at top companies such as Tanium, UiPath, and Microsoft, Tektonic is poised to revolutionize the automation industry. Surpatanu explains, “Last year, generative AI happened, and I realized that it unlocks software scenarios that were previously impossible. Based on my experience at UiPath and Microsoft, I know the potential of traditional automation.”
“What’s even more important is that I believe generative AI cannot be treated as a magic box. It must be combined with symbolic methods and traditional software to unlock its full potential.”
Surpatanu argues that generative AI brings a level of adaptability and understanding of the user’s intent to these systems that was not possible before, a weakness that RPA often struggles with. With older automation tools, any significant change in the user interface can break the entire scripted automation. Additionally, once a set of automations is created, maintaining them becomes a constant commitment.
But with AI, Tektonic can extract semantic entities and map them to user intent, allowing for more dynamic and flexible automation. Surpatanu clarifies, “Our approach…will not make it 100% flexible for short. I’m not claiming that. But I’m introducing enough flexibility to cover a much broader set of scenarios than was possible before.”
He acknowledges that current AI models are not yet reliable enough to power fully autonomous agents, so for now, humans will still play a crucial role in the process. However, Surpatanu stresses that if Tektonic can increase automation from 50% to 80%, it would be a significant step forward.
On the technical side, Tektonic utilizes a combination of foundation models and open models for entity extraction and lower-level actions.
“Instead of doing manual work across multiple applications, sales reps should partner with AI-based agents that understand their processes and get things done so they can spend more time working with customers,” state Madrona’s Steve Singh, Ted Kummert, and Palak Goel in their recent announcement.
Tektonic is still in its early stages, and the team is currently working with design partners to further test and develop their platform. But Surpatanu envisions a bright future for the company, saying, “In three to five years, we will be a SaaS company. You will be able to come in, and we will easily connect to the APIs in your systems.” For now, businesses interested in Tektonic will need to install the system as a container in their virtual private cloud.
