
Lightsage raises $4M to build the growth stack for software’s newest customer
THE SO WHAT
Lightsage raising $4M for “Agent-Led Growth” is an early but important tell: some vendors now assume AI agents — not humans — will be the primary evaluators and choosers of software. If your product depends on bottoms-up human adoption, start asking how an agent would discover, integrate, and score you — and whether your docs, APIs, and pricing are legible to non-human buyers.
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