The archive · Developer & Business Tools · Product decision · 2025-2026
Tasklet's agent-OS bet: Firebase founder raises $20M at $175M, hits $5M ARR
YC S26 cloud agent that does knowledge work 24/7; ex-Firebase founder Andrew Lee, $20M from USV/Lightspeed, ~$5-7M ARR within months
Tasklet
What the business is
Tasklet is a cloud 'agent OS' for knowledge work: one AI agent that connects to Slack, Outlook, Google Drive and other tools via APIs, runs 24/7 on triggers, writes and runs code, and generates UIs on demand.
Starting capital：$20M Series A at a $175M valuation co-led by Union Square Ventures and Lightspeed, with Jeff Dean and Patrick & John Collison among the angels (announced in the YC Launch post, 2026-07-20)
How it started
Andrew Lee, who founded Firebase (YC S11, acquired by Google), and Jonny, an early Firebaser who became technical lead for Google Cloud Firestore, co-founded the company in 2020 as an email-product team. After ChatGPT launched they went all-in on AI inside Shortwave, and in fall 2024 they shipped a full AI agent - growth accelerated, and users started saying they wanted the agent and integrations but did not care about the email client.
What happened
In 2025 the pair built Tasklet as a standalone cloud agent. By January 2026 Tasklet alone was adding more monthly revenue than Shortwave had in its first four years. Tasklet joined YC's Spring 2026 batch, grew from roughly $300K revenue at the start of the year to about $5M ARR by its July 2026 Launch YC post (ARR.club logged $7M at Demo Day on 2026-06-17), and raised a $20M Series A at a $175M valuation from USV, Lightspeed, Jeff Dean and the Collison brothers.
How it ended up
Still live and scaling as of 2026-09-02: the 8-9 person San Francisco team reports >1,200% growth for the year, $5M+ ARR, and 11 open roles; no exit or further round announced.
Background
Tasklet is a San Francisco startup selling what it calls the cloud agent operating system for knowledge work. One AI agent connects to a user's work tools - Slack, Outlook, Google Drive, CRMs, any HTTP API or MCP server - and takes real actions: pulling reports, triaging email, updating records, writing and running code, and generating UIs. Because it runs in the cloud around the clock, triggers like schedules, emails and webhooks let it keep owning workflows while the user sleeps.
The company began in 2020 as the team behind Shortwave, an AI-powered email client, founded by Firebase creator Andrew Lee and early Firebaser Jonny. After shipping a full AI agent inside Shortwave in fall 2024, they noticed users asking for the agent and integrations but not the email app. In 2025 they made the pivot: Tasklet went from idea to first user in under six weeks, and by January 2026 it alone was adding more monthly revenue than Shortwave had generated in its first four years.
Tasklet joined YC's Spring 2026 batch and became one of the batch's most-watched companies: TechCrunch named it among 11 standout startups after interviewing eight investors, ARR.club recorded about $7M ARR at Demo Day (2026-06-17) against roughly $300K revenue at the start of the year, and the YC Launch post of 2026-07-20 disclosed $20M raised at a $175M valuation from USV, Lightspeed, Jeff Dean and the Collison brothers, with growth above 1,200% since January.
The bet is that legacy SaaS gets unbundled by agents: instead of opening many applications, the knowledge worker gives commands to one always-on agent that reaches every tool. Tasklet is still scaling as of September 2026 with an 8-9 person team and 11 open roles.
What has to be true
- The pivot is a rare, documented product decision: users explicitly asked for the agent without the email client, and the founders rebuilt around the feature in six weeks.
- The growth numbers are concrete and dated: ~$300K revenue in January 2026 to $5-7M ARR by June-July 2026, per the company and ARR.club.
- The $20M Series A at $175M from USV, Lightspeed, Jeff Dean and the Collison brothers is a strong market signal for horizontal agent infrastructure at YC S26.
- TechCrunch's 11-standouts list (2026-06-18) documents independent investor attention, which is exactly the search-and-discovery signal this archive wants.
What can be applied
When users keep asking for one feature without the rest of your product, that feature is the real product - spinning it out into Tasklet took six weeks and produced $5M+ ARR within months.
Aftermath
As of 2026-09-02 Tasklet is live and scaling: $5M+ ARR per its July 2026 Launch YC post, a $20M Series A at a $175M valuation, an 8-9 person San Francisco team, and 11 open roles including engineering, design, marketing and more. The founders say the product keeps improving automatically as new models ship, and no further funding or exit has been announced.
Sources
- Launch YC: Tasklet - The cloud agent OS for knowledge work
- The 11 standout startups from YC's Demo Day, according to VCs
- Tasklet ARR hit $7M from $300K revenue at the beginning of the year
- Tasklet: Agents that own the work
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