PolyAI names former Rapid7 finance executive Sunil Shah as CFO
The London-based conversational AI company hands its finance function to a software operator and former investor, who will help shape capital strategy as it opens its agent platform to more customers
- Previous role: senior vice-president of finance, Rapid7
- Earlier: ran strategic finance at Imperva and supported its acquisition for more than $2bn (£1.5bn)
- Nearly a decade as a technology investor, at firms including Surveyor Capital and Carlson Capital
- PolyAI raised $86m (£64m) in a Series D round in December 2025 (Tech.eu)
- PolyAI says it serves hundreds of enterprises in 25 countries and 75 languages
Shah’s record is in scaling recurring revenue and running investor relations, the experience a company recruits for as it moves from venture rounds toward later-stage or public-market capital. PolyAI has announced no plans for either. Putting revenue operations under the finance chief also ties sales performance more closely to spending decisions as the company widens its platform from large enterprise contracts to AI builders.
“Sunil has helped steer software companies through the kind of growth we’re heading into, and he knows the business from both sides of the table as an investor and an operator.”Nikola Mrkšić, chief executive and co-founder, PolyAI
PolyAI has appointed Sunil Shah as chief financial officer, the company said on 8 October 2026. At Rapid7, his last employer, Shah led a finance organization spanning financial planning and analysis, investor relations and data analytics while annual recurring revenue grew from $300m (£225m) to $800m (£600m), according to PolyAI.
At PolyAI he will run global finance, including accounting, treasury and revenue operations, and help shape the company’s capital strategy. PolyAI says his first focus is investment in its Agentic Dialog Platform, which it is opening to more enterprises and AI builders.
The hire follows two launches: Dialog-RSN-1, the company’s own reasoning model for real-time dialog, and Wren, an agent inside the platform that PolyAI says keeps finding ways to improve customers’ dialog agents. PolyAI names Metro Bank, Marriott, PG&E and UniCredit among its customers.
Its Series D was co-led by existing investors Georgian, Hedosophia and Khosla Ventures, with Nvidia’s venture arm NVentures among the other backers, Tech.eu reported. PolyAI did not declare a valuation for that round. Its previous raise, $50m (£38m) in 2024, valued it at close to $500m (£375m), according to Tech.eu.
Sources
- PolyAI, “PolyAI appoints Sunil Shah as Chief Financial Officer”, press release, 8 October 2026. https://poly.ai/blog/polyai-appoints-sunil-shah-cfo
- Tech.eu, “PolyAI raises $86M”, 15 December 2025. https://tech.eu/2025/12/15/polyai-raises-86m/
