Artificial Intelligence · Profile from AI Research Companion
C3.ai
The Redwood City enterprise-AI software company founded in 2009 by Tom Siebel, the CRM pioneer who sold Siebel Systems to Oracle, that tried to be the platform on which large industrial and government organisations build AI applications — predictive maintenance, supply-chain and fraud models, and later generative-AI search and agents. C3.ai took the ticker AI at its December 2020 IPO, and its share price has served ever since as a gauge of retail enthusiasm for "AI stocks" more than of its own results. Revenue grew slowly, from $183m in fiscal 2021 to $389m in fiscal 2025 (company), with persistent losses and a heavy dependence on Baker Hughes. Then it fell apart: Siebel stepped back for health reasons in 2025, sales execution collapsed, fiscal 2026 revenue dropped ~36% to $250.3m, the company explored a sale (reported, November 2025) and cut ~26% of staff (reported, February 2026), and Siebel returned as CEO in May 2026. In September 2026 it reported its first positive free cash flow quarter under the turnaround plan, on revenue of $52.4m.
At a glance
- Founded
- January 2009, Redwood City, California, by Thomas M. Siebel, as C3 (marketed as C3 Energy); renamed C3 IoT (2016) and C3.ai (2019)
- Headquarters
- Redwood City, California
- Ownership / structure
- Public, NYSE: AI (IPO 9 December 2020). Siebel is the largest shareholder and held majority voting control through Class B shares (company filings, verify current structure)
- Leadership (2026)
- Thomas M. Siebel (founder; CEO 2009–August 2025 and again from 8 May 2026; chairman); Stephen Ehikian (CEO 1 September 2025–8 May 2026, then president, reported); Hitesh Lath (CFO, verify)
- AI products
- C3 Agentic AI Platform (formerly C3 AI Platform / Suite); ~40 turnkey applications (reliability and predictive maintenance, supply chain, inventory, energy management, anti-money-laundering, CRM); C3 Generative AI (enterprise search and agents, launched March 2023); federal versions for defence and intelligence
- Scale
- Revenue $183.2m (FY2021) → $252.8m (FY2022) → $266.8m (FY2023) → $310.6m (FY2024) → $389.1m (FY2025) → $250.3m (FY2026, year to 30 April 2026); FY2027 guidance $210–240m (company). Q1 FY2027 (to 31 July 2026) revenue $52.4m, free cash flow +$2.1m, cash and securities $651.1m (company)
- Capital raised
- ~$300m+ privately before the IPO (reported, verify); IPO raised ~$651m at $42 a share (December 2020, reported); Siebel bought 6.17m shares at $11.16 (~$69m) in June 2026 (company)
- Key partnerships
- Baker Hughes (BHC3 alliance, 2019); Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud (co-selling, 2020s); US Air Force and other defence agencies; Shell, Enel, Engie, Koch, Holcim, Heidelberg Materials (customers, reported)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- The Siebel-founded energy-analytics start (2009); the Baker Hughes alliance and concentration (2019); the IPO and the AI ticker (2020); the consumption-pricing pivot (2022); the generative-AI rally and the Kerrisdale short (2023); the cloud-partner and federal push (2024); Siebel's exit, the guidance withdrawal and the sale exploration (2025); the restructuring and Siebel's return (2026)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2009
Founding C3 Energy and the Siebel Playbook
Founding
2019
Baker Hughes Alliance and Customer Concentration
Partnership (reseller alliance with minimum commitments)
2020
IPO and the AI Ticker
IPO
2022
Consumption Pricing Pivot
Pricing pivot
2023
Generative AI Rally and the Kerrisdale Short
Launch / short-seller attack
2024
Cloud Partner Channel and Federal Push
Partnership / government contracts
2025
Siebel Exit Guidance Withdrawal and Sale Exploration
Leadership change / failure (and strategic review)
2026
Restructuring and Siebels Return
Restructuring / leadership change