Simular, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company founded by former DeepMind researchers, has secured a $21.5 million Series A round to advance its autonomous computer agent platform. The funding was led by Felicis Ventures, with participation from NVentures, Basis Set Ventures, Flying Fish Partners, South Park Commons, and angel investor Lenny Rachitsky. The raise follows the company’s $5 million seed round, which Basis Set led.
The company is building agents capable of operating software applications on behalf of users, completing workflows, navigating interfaces, and performing digital tasks with reliability comparable to that of human knowledge workers. Simulator’s open-agency framework, Agent S, recently achieved 69.9 percent success on OSWorld, a benchmark that evaluates an agent’s ability to execute real computer tasks. The company said this result brings performance to the edge of human accuracy, currently measured at 72 percent on the same benchmark.
Simular is also releasing Simular 1.0, its first native desktop agent designed to work across applications, execute complex workflows, and operate continuously in the background. The system is trained with human-in-the-loop feedback, enabling users to guide, correct, or redirect the agent with natural language. The new version also introduces configurable contextual task triggers that launch workflows automatically based on the user’s real-time activity. Simular 1.0 features a Bigfoot persona designed to make interactions more intuitive and accessible.
The company positions itself as an emerging leader building infrastructure for autonomous computers that learn, type, click, and adapt across desktops, browsers, and mobile devices. Its hybrid agent system combines neural exploration, symbolic execution, and continual learning, and has already executed millions of workflow steps for users across insurance, recruiting, and travel. The team includes researchers from DeepMind, Baidu, LLNL, and UCSB, with more than 100 publications in leading AI venues and a Best Paper Award at the ICLR 2025 Agentic AI workshop.
KEY QUOTES:
“Simular’s team brings a rare combination of world class AI research expertise and business depth. Their focus on building computer use agents reliable enough for enterprises instantly convinced us that they’ll be a key driver for the future of knowledge work.”
Peter Deng, General Partner at Felicis
“This is a uniquely talented team with a clear, ambitious vision. They’ve been ahead of every major technological wave, and I’m excited to see what they create in the decade to come.”
Lan Xuezhao, Managing Partner at Basis Set
“Agents must be able to reliably use a computer in real environments, not just in simulations. Simular 1.0 holds two keys: It can repeat its own success and collaborate seamlessly with humans as a capable teammate.”
Ang Li, CEO and Co-Founder of Simular
