When AJ Jain and Aditya Ketkar walked into a plumbing business in Sacramento in June 2024, its owner, Marcelle Flowers, thought they were students selling chocolate bars.
The pair had spent months visiting contractors across Northern California, trying to understand how small service businesses operated. Their previous startup had failed to gain traction, and they were looking for a problem worth solving.
Flowers gave them five minutes. Two years later, she's the chief operating officer of their new company, Broccoli AI, which has raised $52 million across two funding rounds led by Khosla Ventures.
The financing comprises a previously undisclosed $22 million Series A and a $30 million Series B. According to Fortune, the company reached a $300 million post-money valuation, although Broccoli declined to confirm that figure.
Broccoli builds AI agents for plumbing, heating, electrical and other home service businesses. Its software answers customer calls, books appointments, follows up on quotes and handles routine administrative work.
These are not particularly glamorous tasks. But they're expensive problems for businesses where a missed phone call can mean losing a customer to a competitor.
Broccoli's agents integrate with existing scheduling software rather than forcing contractors to adopt an entirely new system. A customer calling outside office hours can describe a problem, receive an appropriate response and arrange an appointment without speaking to a receptionist.
The company says more than 1,500 businesses now use its software, including Ace Hardware Home Services, Mr. Electric and Any Hour Group. It has expanded into roofing, garage doors, pool maintenance and home improvement.
Revenue has tripled since the Series A, while headcount has grown from 15 to more than 150 employees over the past year. Broccoli has not disclosed its absolute revenue.
Jain and Ketkar met while studying computer science at BITS Pilani in India. Before Broccoli, they worked on technology for energy and electric vehicle infrastructure.
Their decision to spend time inside contracting businesses helped shape the new product. They discovered that owners weren't necessarily looking for sophisticated AI. They needed someone to answer the phone after 5 p.m., chase outstanding estimates and keep the appointment book full.
That practical focus has become central to Broccoli's positioning.
The company is now trying to move beyond AI receptionists toward automating more of a contractor's back-office operations. Its website lists specialized agents for appointment reminders, sales follow-ups, membership renewals and dispatch coordination.
The competition is growing, and established field-service software providers have strong customer relationships. Broccoli will have to prove that its agents generate additional booked jobs and measurable cost savings rather than simply replacing existing answering services.
Still, the company's early growth suggests that AI adoption in traditional businesses may be driven by immediate operational needs, not the broader promise of autonomous agents.