AI-Native Services: The Definitive Guide

Frameworks, data, and hard-won lessons from the companies defining AI-native services

Our Thesis

Read the Playbook

Who invests in AINS?

Emergence Capital invests in early-stage AI-Native Services companies.

Emergence partners with founders from seed through Series B and specializes in emerging business models. We've built a multi-year thesis on AINS, assembled a disclosed portfolio in the category, and developed a living operating playbook around the model.

We've built a multi-year thesis on AINS, assembled a portfolio in the category, and developed a living playbook around the model.

Read our thesisRead the Playbook

What is AINS?

An AI-Native Services (AINS) company uses AI to deliver complete services, not software, faster, and better than traditional providers. The customer buys an outcome, not a tool. Emergence Capital named the category in 2024.

AINS Founders

What Founders Say

No one in venture has thought as systematically about AI-native services as Jake Saper and the Emergence team. I make sure that we meet at least quarterly so I can learn what we could be doing better. They've done the hard work of turning pattern recognition into an actual playbook. For founders building here, they're the go-to resource.

Ryan Daniels, CEO

Emergence backed us in 2023, before anyone was talking about AI-native services. What's set them apart since is how seriously they've studied the model. They're not pattern-matching from SaaS -- they've done the work to understand what's actually different, from how we set KPIs to sourcing the perfect product leader for this business. For founders building in this space, there's no one better.

Rob Mee, CEO

Emergence was my first call when we started building our pricing model to be outcome-based. The depth of their thinking on AI-native pricing -- built from real experience across startups to public industry leaders -- has been invaluable to how we operate at Pace.

Jamie Cuffe, CEO

Our AINS Portfolio

Our AI-Native Services Portfolio

Stage Partnered: Series A

A veteran team solving the hardest mainframe migration challenges for the Fortune 500 at 10x the speed of the Big 4.

Rob Mee

CEO

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Stage Partnered: Seed

An AI-Native TPA where a dozen engineers process claims more accurately than 1000-person incumbents.

Timon Gregg

CEO

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Stage Partnered: Series A

An AI-Native fund administrator that rebuilds core accounting systems to be LLM native, and sleeps at their customers' offices to make sure it’s deployed right. 

Chris Hladczuk

CEO

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Stage Partnered: Seed

An AI-Native commercial insurance brokerage that supercharges brokers with AI agents to give SMBs radically better policy placements at a fraction of the time. 

Dakotah Rice

CEO

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Stage Partnered: Founding Round

Leveraging AI to help organizations build and deploy AI systems.

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Stage Partnered: Series A

Pace is an AI-Native Services company building the AI operations partner for the world's leading insurers.

Jamie Cuffe

Founder & CEO

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Stage Partnered: Seed

AI-Native Revenue Cycle Management Provider.

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The AI-Native Services Playbook

Operational frameworks and hard-won lessons from the founders defining AI-native services - updated every six months.

Go to Playbook

01
Team
Domain Expertise is Not Optional
02
Product-Market Fit
Beware Mirage PMF
03
Delivery
Sleep at Your Customer’s Office
04
Product Roadmap
Navigate the Important vs Urgent Tradeoff
05
Go-to-Market
It’s the Demo, Stupid
06
Pricing
Outcomes-based
07
Defensibility
Forge a Data Flywheel
08
Metrics
Track Productization Maniacally
09
M&A
Beware of Acquiring Too Early
Investment Criteria

What Emergence looks for in AI-Native services

01
Own the outcome
The company delivers a result and remains accountable for it. Value is measured by whether the work gets done—not by software seats.
02
Build AI into delivery
The operating model is designed around AI from the start, rather than added as a thin feature to a labor-heavy process.
03
Prove a measurable advantage
The service becomes meaningfully faster, less expensive, higher quality, or some combination of the three.
04
Increase AI leverage
Gross margin, revenue per employee, productization, or another clear measure shows AI performing a growing share of the work.
05
Earn domain trust
Consequential services require domain credibility, implementation capability, and close collaboration between practitioners and builders.
06
Choose compounding workflows
High-volume, repeatable work creates a foundation where every engagement improves data, delivery, or the next case.

Where does your AI-native services company stack up?
‍
Take the assessment and find out.

AINS at work

Playbooks and perspectives for building in the AI world

From original research to community events, we curate resources that support the next generation of founders transforming the world of work with AI.

Explore Content

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AI-Native Services Market Map

Submit a Company

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FAQ
What is an AI-native services (AINS) company?

An AI-native services (AINS) company uses AI to deliver complete services, not software, faster and better than traditional providers. The customer buys an outcome, not a tool. Emergence Capital named the category in 2024.

How is an AI-native services company different from a SaaS company?

A SaaS company sells a tool and the customer does the work. An AINS company sells the outcome itself, with AI doing the work a person or firm used to do, and the vendor holding responsibility for the result.

Who coined the term “AI-native services”?

Emergence Capital coined the term “AI-native services” (AINS) in 2024 to describe companies that use AI to deliver outcomes rather than sell software as a tool. Sequoia Capital has since written about the same shift in its 2026 piece “Services: The New Software.”

What are examples of AI-native services companies?

Examples include Crosby Legal, Harper, Strala, Hanover Park, and Mechanical Orchard. We’re actively tracking the category for others building in the space.

Building an AI-Native Service?

We’d love to meet you. Click the link below to let us know what you’re working on.

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