Startup Artisan has raised $11.5 million in seed funding to develop AI-powered “employees” for sales teams. The company offers an AI assistant named Ava that automates tasks such as lead research and personalized email creation. CEO Jaspar Carmichael-Jack told VentureBeat that Artisan has already secured over 120 customers and reached $1 million in annual revenue. The funding round was led by Oliver Jung, with participation from Y Combinator and HubSpot Ventures. Artisan plans to expand its AI assistant offerings to marketing and customer service in the future.