Podium: What It Does, Who Runs It, Funding and News

Podium is a software company based in Lehi, Utah, that builds AI agents and customer communication tools for local businesses. Eric Rea and Dennis Steele founded it in 2014, and Eric Rea is its CEO, according to Podium's October 22, 2026 release. In that release Podium said its AI agent business had passed $150 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR).

Podium began as a way for shops and service businesses to manage their online reviews, then added messaging, payments and, more recently, AI agents that answer calls and book appointments. This page covers its key facts, products, founders, four venture rounds and what it announced in 2026.

Podium key facts

Podium's customer counts differ by source and date. Its November 2021 Series D release and its YC page say more than 100,000 local businesses, while its homepage in October 2026 says more than 60,000. The YC team size of 1,000 is the figure on Podium's YC profile, not a number Podium has announced.

What Podium does

Podium sells software that local businesses use to answer leads, message customers, take payments and gather reviews, and it now sells AI agents it calls AI employees. TechCrunch reported in 2017 that Podium launched in 2014 to help brick-and-mortar businesses manage online reviews. In March 2020 Podium added payments, so a business could collect money inside a text conversation with a customer.

Podium's October 2026 release says its agents answer calls, respond to leads, book appointments and follow up with customers, and that more than 20,000 of them are deployed. Podium packages them by industry:

• Car dealerships. An AI employee named Jerry answers calls, chats, texts and email, qualifies leads and books test drives and service visits. Podium says more than 6,000 dealerships use it (Podium).
• Home services. An AI operating system for HVAC, plumbing, electrical and garage door contractors combines field service management (scheduling, dispatch, estimates, invoicing) with an AI employee named Larry, a back-office agent called Operator and an AI Membership Coordinator (Podium; TechEdge AI).
• Aesthetics. An AI operating system for aesthetics practices combines an electronic medical record, patient messaging, marketing and lead management, run by an AI employee named Avery (Podium release, January 2026).
• Retail and other local businesses. Podium's homepage also lists retail among its industries.

Who runs Podium

Eric Rea is Podium's cofounder and CEO. He has held the CEO title in Podium's announcements from the 2021 Series D to the October 2026 ARR release. Dennis Steele cofounded Podium with him, and YC's page lists both as founders, with Eric Rea as founder and CEO.

Podium funding and valuation

Podium raised four lettered venture rounds between 2017 and 2021, and its last announced round valued it at more than $3 billion. These are the rounds with amounts that Podium, its investors or major reporting published:

Sources date the Series B differently: Podium's announcement on Summit Partners' site is dated June 7, 2018, while a 2020 TechCrunch report places it in November 2018. TechCrunch put Podium's total raised at just under $218 million after the Series C. When the Series D was announced, Eric Rea told TechCrunch that Podium had well over $100 million in ARR. As of October 2026, Podium had not disclosed an updated valuation, Utah Money Watch reported.

Podium news in 2026

• January 20, 2026: Podium launched an AI operating system for aesthetics practices, built around its AI employee Avery (Podium release).
• January 21, 2026: Eric Rea posted on LinkedIn that Podium had passed $100 million in AI agent ARR, as Utah Money Watch reported.
• August 28, 2026: Podium launched an AI operating system for home services contractors in the US and Canada, pairing field service management with its agents (TechEdge AI).
• October 22, 2026: Podium said its AI agent ARR had passed $150 million in about two and a half years, against eight years for its original software business to reach the same figure (Podium release).

Earlier, in December 2022, Podium laid off 12% of its staff, according to an internal memo from Eric Rea and Dennis Steele reported by Business Insider and covered by The Salt Lake Tribune. Podium has not disclosed its total company ARR or how much of its AI revenue replaced older products, Utah Money Watch noted in October 2026.