The customer experience sector will become a $5 trillion market by 2030, according to Netomi founder and CEO Puneet Mehta, who says the growth will create demand for stablecoins and blockchain-based payment infrastructure rather than driving capital out of crypto.
Mehta said companies currently spend around $500 billion annually on customer experience-related knowledge work. As AI expands beyond customer support and into sales, conversion, upselling and cross-selling, he expects the market opportunity to increase tenfold by 2030.
“Today, the customer experience is structured in silos,” Mehta said. “This layer of technology and people is not fully and autonomously communicating with all of the systems and processes in the business. Once that starts to happen, it sets the stage for a much larger category.”
Mehta, whose company recently raised $110 million in a Series C round backed by Accenture Ventures and Adobe Ventures, says the rise of artificial intelligence and crypto should be seen as complementary trends rather than competing sectors.
“The idea that AI is simply sucking capital out of crypto is a fundamental misunderstanding of where the technology is going,” said Mehta, who previously worked as an engineer and data scientist at IBM and later held similar roles at JPMorgan, Citi and Merrill Lynch. “We are not in a zero-sum battle for risk dollars. »
Mehta’s view that AI agents will need faster financial infrastructure aligns with a growing argument among crypto executives that autonomous software could become a major driver of stablecoin adoption.
Fiat-linked cryptocurrencies are entering a new phase of adoption, with large corporations using them for cross-border cash flow while AI agents begin using blockchain rails for autonomous payments, executives from Bridge and Deus trillion dollars by 2035.
AI enabling cryptography
The next phase of enterprise software will rely on autonomous AI agents capable of handling increasingly complex business functions, including financial transactions, according to Mehta.
“AI agents move money and assets faster than traditional businesses can keep up,” he said. “An autonomous agent cannot rely on traditional banking systems that take days to settle transactions through manual paperwork. »
Mehta says fully automated software systems require two key components: AI systems capable of making decisions and blockchain payment infrastructure capable of transferring money instantly.
“To achieve true end-to-end automation, these software systems require always-on, 24/7 capital rails,” he said.
This requirement could lead to increased demand for blockchain-based stablecoins and settlement networks that operate around the clock (24/7). Stablecoin issuers and crypto payment companies are increasingly positioning their products as tools for real-time settlement and cross-border transactions.
Yet many enterprise software companies continue to rely on traditional payment providers and banking networks, and it remains unclear how quickly blockchain-based settlement systems will become a standard part of AI-driven commerce.
Unicorn Status
Netomi’s latest raise brings its total funding to $168 million. Mehta declined to disclose the company’s valuation, but said the company is approaching unicorn status.
Netomi, whose clients include global giants such as Delta, United Airlines, MetLife, ESPN and ATB Financial, is building a unified AI platform rather than a set of disconnected tools, he said.
While many enterprise AI vendors focus on individual functions such as customer service, legal operations or sales support, he explained, Netomi builds systems that work across those functions and share information between them.
“Most companies build point solutions,” Mehta said. “They solve one problem at a time. We believe the future is one of a connected enterprise where AI systems do not operate in silos but work together across the entire organization.”
UPDATE (June 10, 5:10 p.m. UTC): Adds a section on Netomi approaching unicorn status.
