My thesis back in April 2021 was simple: customer support is one of the few software verticals where automation meets emotion. People don’t just want answers; they want understanding.
Intercom had already built the infrastructure for that interaction. It was one of the most product-driven companies I’d seen: clean design, modular architecture, and a clear roadmap toward AI long before "LLM" became a household acronym. It wasn’t a bet on hype; it was a bet on execution.

By 2024, legacy systems like Zendesk and Salesforce Service Cloud started to look like fax machines compared to what new AI agents could do. Intercom, however, didn’t just bolt AI onto old features—it rebuilt its core around artificial intelligence. Their flagship product, Fin, launched in 2024 and quickly became the #1 AI support agent globally.

Fin now resolves over 70% of customer requests automatically. Unlike AI-first startups, Intercom already had the distribution—thousands of enterprise clients like Amazon, Atlassian, and Notion—to train its models on. It’s not just shipping a bot; it’s building an ecosystem where AI is the primary engine of support.

Entering in 2021 at a $1.3B valuation, I’ve watched the company scale its revenue from ~$120M to over $420M+ today. By late 2025, the AI agent Fin alone was generating ~$100M in ARR, proving that the shift to AI wasn't just a pivot in words, but a massive driver of growth.

The company now employs over 1,000 people across 6 global hubs and has moved from "modernizing chat" to providing structural infrastructure for enterprise communication.

By 2025, the AI customer experience space looks very different from what it did four years ago.

• Intercom focuses on a scalable, integrated ecosystem and a deep data moat.
• Pure-play AI startups like Decagon or Sierra are growing fast but trade at astronomical multiples (75x to 225x ARR).
• Legacy platforms like Zendesk struggle with outdated architectures and weaker AI integration.

The irony is that Intercom is now one of the most AI-native platforms in the world, yet it is still priced like a traditional SaaS vendor at 6.7x EV/ARR. For a long-term investor, that disconnect is the real opportunity.

Between 2021 and 2025, Intercom transitioned from growth mode into maturity. The market demanded efficiency, and Intercom adapted, shifting toward a positive EBITDA target and industry-leading gross margins of 80%+. Most importantly, the company proved that AI in customer service is not a gimmick—it’s a necessary, foundational layer.

I haven’t sold my position. Not because I expect an immediate spike, but because Intercom has become the foundational layer for how businesses communicate in the AI era. Sometimes, the best decision an investor can make is to simply keep holding when the original thesis starts proving itself right.

This investment was made as part of my work with the Digital Disrupt venture club—a community focused on identifying technologies that quietly, yet fundamentally, reshape how industries operate.

In 2021, Intercom felt like a smart SaaS bet. In 2025, it feels like infrastructure. Sometimes progress isn’t loud. It’s measurable.