About Forethought AI
Forethought AI is a Technology company based in San Francisco (United States) founded in 2017 by Deon Nicholas and Sami Ghoche, and was acquired by Zendesk in March 2026. Generative AI solutions are provided for customer support automation. Forethought AI has raised $117.17 million across 5 funding rounds from investors including Zendesk, Neo and Steadfast Financial. The company has 61 employees. Its chief executive, as recorded, is Sami Ghoche. Its website forethought.ai draws about 166 thousand monthly visits. Forethought AI offers products and services including Solve, Triage, Assist, and Discover. Its focus areas include Enterprise Applications, Customer Service Software, Contact Center and Process Automation. Its competitors include Twilio, Freshworks and Dialpad; 3 of its 3 listed competitors have raised funding.
Company details
Forethought AI was founded in 2017 in San Francisco, United States. Generative AI tools are developed for customer support in sectors including e-commerce, SaaS, and fintech. Repetitive tasks are automated by an AI agent, which enables human agents to address complex interactions. Messages are processed across channels such as email, chat, and Slack, with responses generated from a knowledge base to resolve common queries.
- Headquarters San Francisco, United States
- Employees 61
- Founders Deon Nicholas, Sami Ghoche
- Stage Acquired
- SectorsTechnology
- Website category Computers Electronics and Technology · Programming and Developer Software
- Email••••••••
- Website forethought.ai
- Social LinkedIn X Facebook
- Acquired by Zendesk (Mar 2026)
Products & Services of Forethought AI
Forethought AI offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, including Solve, Triage, Assist, and Discover.
Automates inquiry processing and responses across channels for efficient support.
Analyzes tickets by intent and routes them to appropriate agents quickly.
Provides knowledge articles and summaries to boost agent efficiency and responses.
Uses AI to recommend improvements and track performance in customer service.
Funding Insights of Forethought AI
Forethought AI has successfully raised a total of $117.17M across 5 strategic funding rounds. The most recent funding activity was a Series D round of $25 million completed in May 2025. This substantial capital infusion reflects strong investor confidence in the company's business model, growth potential, and market opportunities. The funding enables strategic expansion, product development, market penetration, and operational scaling to drive long-term value creation and competitive advantage.
- Total Funding $117.17M
- Total Rounds 5
- Last Round Series D — $25M
- First Round $649,999
(Dec 2017)
- Investors Count 34
All 5 funding rounds of Forethought AI with amounts and investors; the two latest post-money valuations are shown, the rest are part of the premium plan.
| Date | Amount | Transaction Name | Valuation | Lead Investors | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2025 | $25M | Series D | – | Blue Cloud Ventures | |
| Dec 2021 | $65M | Series C | – | Steadfast Financial | |
| Oct 2020 | $17M | Series B | – | New Enterprise Associates, Sound Ventures | |
| Dec 2018 | $9.52M | Series A | – | K9 Ventures, Village Global | |
| Dec 2017 | $649,999 | Seed | – | – | – |
35 investors in total: 15 institutional and 20 angel.
Investors in Forethought AI
Forethought AI has secured backing from 35 investors, including institutional, venture fund, and angel investors. Prominent investors backing the company include Zendesk, Neo and Steadfast Financial.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Venture capital investments are offered to startups by NEA. | nea.com | Menlo Park, United States | ||
Venture capital firm focused on multiple sectors | soundventures.com | |||
A technology-focused Pre-Seed fund in Palo Alto, California. | k9ventures.com | |||
Venture capital firm focused on B2B companies | frontline.vc | Dublin, Ireland | ||
Venture capital firm focused on seed stage startups | cleocap.com | San Francisco, United States | ||
Multiple sectors receive venture capital and fund of funds investments. | spearhead.co | Cambridge, United States | ||
Private equity firm investing in multiple sectors | collabfund.com | New York, United States | ||
Early-stage SaaS companies are funded by the venture capital firm. | bluecloudventures.com | New York, United States | ||
Investments in private tech ecosystem are made by Industry Ventures. | industryventures.com | San Francisco, United States | ||
Technology startups are accelerated and incubated sector-agnostically by Neo. | 2017 | neo.com | San Francisco, United States |
Investor details for Forethought AI
The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.
- Complete investor list
- Round participation
- Investor portfolios
- Co-investor network
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
People of Forethought AI
60 people are tracked at Forethought AI (11 in leadership, 7 in board & advisors, 42 in team); the tracked headcount is 61.
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
Deon Nicholas | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Sami Ghoche | Co-Founder & CEO | Leadership |
Lindsay Fifield | Director of Customer Success | Leadership |
Sunny Kong | VP Of Product Design | Leadership |
Dalton Haughey | Senior Director, Sales | Leadership |
Dan Watkins | President | Leadership |
Lauren Hogan | Director Of Product Marketing | Leadership |
Jad Chamoun | Director Of Engineering, Platform | Leadership |
Mitchell Hanson | VP, Marketing | Leadership |
Zachary Tosh | Director Of Engineering | Leadership |
Al Martin | Head of Solutions & Client Services | Leadership |
Chris Manning | Advisor | Board & advisors |
Jim Cyb | Board Member & Advisor | Board & advisors |
Vanessa Larco | Board Member & Advisor | Board & advisors |
Pete Sonsini | Board Member & Advisor | Board & advisors |
Manu Kumar | Board Member/Advisor | Board & advisors |
Tekedra Mawakana | Advisor | Board & advisors |
Sasha Rush | Advisor | Board & advisors |
Jenny Kaehms | Operations | Team |
Dave Kleifgen | Strategic Sales | Team |
40 more people are available in the full profile.
Complete people profiles for Forethought AI
Full employee and board profiles, team structure, tenure and professional contact details require an active premium plan.
- Full employee list
- Team structure
- Board tenure
- Professional contacts
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Timeline of Forethought AI
4 dated milestones of Forethought AI across 9 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.
- Founded Forethought AI is founded.
- Funding First funding round of $650K.
- Funding Latest funding round, Series D, of $25.0M.
- Exit Acquired by Zendesk.
Competitors of Forethought AI
Forethought AI has 3 listed competitors in our database, 3 of them funded. They include Twilio, Freshworks and Dialpad.
| Company Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| twilio.com | 2008 | San Francisco, United States | $239.77M | 231 | Cloud-based omnichannel communication and customer engagement platform is utilized. | |
| freshworks.com | 2010 | San Mateo, United States | $400.05M | 4,400 | Cloud-based business process management suite solutions are delivered. | |
| dialpad.com | 2011 | San Ramon, United States | $475.91M | 119 | Cloud-based unified communication solutions including voice and video are provided. |
Detailed competitors of Forethought AI
The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.
- Full competitor set
- Operating metrics
- Benchmarks
- Competitive positioning
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Web traffic of Forethought AI
The website of Forethought AI (forethought.ai) receives about 166.5K visits a month and ranks #279,360 among all websites worldwide, #6,516 in Programming and Developer Software.
- Monthly visits166.5K
▼ 4.8% vs previous month
- Unique visitors100.8K
per month
- Global rank#279,360
among all websites
- Category rank#6,516
Computers Electronics and Technology · Programming and Developer Software
- Bounce rate62%
- Pages per visit1.5
- Average visit34 sec
- DevicesDesktop 42% · Mobile 58%
Websites whose visitors overlap most with Forethought AI. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ada.cx | 100% | 389.2K | #143,318 | View details | |
| aisera.com | 96% | 72.7K | #540,612 | View details | |
| sendbird.com | 90% | 231.9K | #157,742 | View details | |
| mavenagi.com | 80% | 15.2K | #1,594,941 | View details | |
| beam.ai | 80% | 134.2K | #304,202 | View details | |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
All 40 similar websites and full traffic analytics for Forethought AI
The complete similar-websites list, audience overlap and engagement analytics require an active premium plan.
- 40 similar websites
- Audience overlap
- Engagement analytics
- Traffic by brand
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Top companies in Chatbots
3 companies that operate in the same segment as Forethought AI (Chatbots) in United States, ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.
| Company | Description | Founded | Location | Total funding | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cloud-based omnichannel communication and customer engagement platform is utilized. | 2008 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 239.77 M | USD 5.07 B | 5,540 | |
Cloud-based business process management suite solutions are delivered. | 2010 | San Mateo, California, United States | USD 400.05 M | USD 838.81 M | 4,500 | |
Sierra is focused on enhancing customer experiences through AI technology. | 2023 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 1.59 B | 1,107 |
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Related news about Forethought Ai
Complete news archive for Forethought AI
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Frequently Asked Questions about Forethought AI
Forethought AI was founded in 2017.
Forethought AI is headquartered in San Francisco, United States. It is registered at San Francisco, California, United States.
Sami Ghoche is the CEO of Forethought AI, as recorded in our data. They have also founded this company.
Forethought AI is a funded company, having raised a total of $117.17M across 5 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a Seed of $650K, raised on Dec 2017.
Forethought AI has 61 employees.
Forethought AI was founded in 2017 in San Francisco, United States. Generative AI tools are developed for customer support in sectors including e-commerce, SaaS, and fintech. Repetitive tasks are automated by an AI agent, which enables human agents to address complex interactions. Messages are processed across channels such as email, chat, and Slack, with responses generated from a knowledge base to resolve common queries.
Forethought AI's top competitors include Twilio, Freshworks and Dialpad.
Forethought AI offers Solve, Triage, Assist, and Discover.
Forethought AI has 35 investors. Key investors include Zendesk, Neo, Steadfast Financial, NEA, and Sound Ventures.
Yes. Forethought AI was acquired by Zendesk in March 2026.
The website of Forethought AI receives about 166 thousand visits a month and ranks #279,360 among all websites worldwide.