This AI startup wants to help smooth complex industrial materials sales

While many artificial intelligence companies are developing products intended for broad business applications, a San Francisco-based startup called Emanate is pursuing a vertical strategy by building tools specifically for complex sales transactions within the industrial materials sector.

The company targets a specialized market comprising manufacturers, distributors, and service providers that deal in materials ranging from metal piping to steel building materials. According to Emanate Founder and CEO Kiara Nirghin, these businesses face intricate sales processes that include proactively finding new customers, connecting existing clients with necessary goods, and generating quotes for bespoke orders.

Addressing Inefficiencies in Industrial Sales

The industrial materials sector provides essential raw materials, such as aluminum and steel, as well as manufactured components like pipe and wire. This sector is critical to the expansion of U.S. Manufacturing output and the transition toward a greener economy, which requires the production of electric vehicle charging stations, wind turbines, and solar panels.

As of May 2026, the metals and minerals industry represents a multi-trillion dollar sector. However, the process of generating quotes using existing systems can take between three and four weeks. Emanate argues that the ability to close sales faster and generate more precise quotes can reduce waste caused by mistargeted production and increase overall productivity.

Nirghin notes that the capability for AI to generate useful quotes nearly instantaneously is a recent development, occurring within the approximately six to eight months leading up to May 2026.

“That was only recent—in terms of the last approximately six to eight months,” Nirghin said. “So there is a very big change in quality and step function in terms of actually applying the models.”

Kiara Nirghin

The Technical Framework: The AI Harness

Emanate’s approach relies on more than just the underlying AI models. The company utilizes what Nirghin calls a harness, which is a framework that wraps around the models to create AI agents. This harness consists of custom configurations, integrations with corporate knowledge databanks, and AI-callable tools that connect with other systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.

Implementing this system for a new customer is a detailed process that takes between eight and 12 weeks. This onboarding period involves identifying and securely connecting to critical data sources, including PDF documents containing valuable data, repositories of past sales email correspondence, and ERP databases. Following the initial setup, customers can continue to customize and build upon their AI agents.

This specialized framework is intended to provide higher accuracy than general-purpose AI tools. To verify the technology’s impact, Emanate tracks specific data points before and after deployment, including the number of sales leads handled, hours spent by human workers, outbound messages sent, and the number of processed quotes.

Revenue Growth and Business Impact

While some AI firms focus on cost reduction via automation, Emanate focuses on revenue growth. The company aims to provide its customers with a revenue boost of 40% or more.

“We capture a full baseline before we go live, and then we track every metric,” Nirghin said. “We’ve been very clinical in measuring these metrics so that we can actually report and communicate on them.”

Kiara Nirghin

The deployment process typically begins with human oversight, where workers review AI-generated messages and quotes before they are sent to customers. Over time, users generally become more comfortable deferring these tasks to the AI.

Nirghin, who previously participated in the Thiel Fellows program and a fellowship with Alexis Ohanian’s 776 Foundation, believes that this industry-specific focus provides a sustainable advantage. She suggests that by helping materials companies secure more deals, the technology can support increased employment and production for companies that have the capacity to grow.

Funding and Future Expansion

Emanate is based in San Francisco and currently employs 10 people. The company has received funding from M13 and Andreessen Horowitz, although the specific amount of capital raised has not been disclosed.

While currently focused on industrial materials, Nirghin indicates that the company’s broader vision involves expanding this specialized approach to other industries with similar distribution and sales needs, specifically the chemical and electrical industries.