For years, the race in software has centred on writing code faster. But once that code is written, testing, deployment, security reviews, compliance, and countless other steps are needed to bring new software safely to users. These “after-code” processes are the problem Harness aims to solve.
This San Francisco company just announced a $240 million Series E round led by Goldman Sachs, joined by IVP, Menlo Ventures, and Unusual Ventures. The raise pushes Harness’s valuation to $5.5 billion and will help expand Harness AI, a system built to automate and intelligently manage the whole software delivery process, turning what was once a bottleneck into a competitive advantage.
Freeing developers from repetitive delivery tasks
Harness was founded by Jyoti Bansal, who built AppDynamics into one of the leading software platforms in the industry before selling it to Cisco. After years of observing how much time software teams spent on delivery rather than development, Bansal identified a market gap.
Together with co-founder Rishi Singh, Bansal launched Harness to make software delivery self-driving, reliable, secure, and fully automated, without compromising on governance or safety.
Harness AI is designed from the ground up to streamline work that happens after code is written. It’s built around three interconnected layers: a network of AI agents for testing, deployment, and compliance; a Software Delivery Knowledge Graph that provides a deep understanding of how systems are connected; and an enterprise-grade orchestration engine that turns insights into dependable, repeatable action.
Unlike GitLab, CircleCI, LaunchDarkly, and CloudBees, Harness is fully integrated and AI-native, meaning its automation gets smarter and more context-aware the longer teams use it.
What’s next?
Harness plans to accelerate its R&D efforts, strengthen global operations, and expand its presence across North America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific.
Looking ahead, Bansal says, “The next frontier for AI in software engineering is applying intelligence to the delivery process — testing, verification, deployments, governance, and everything that happens after code is written. Our customers are moving faster than ever with AI, but the delivery process is where complexity and risk pile up. Harness is leading the way in bringing clarity, automation, and control to this part of the lifecycle so teams can ship software quickly, safely, and reliably at scale.”
