The agent cost center moved off model calls and onto the database, the CI runner and the GPU.

Four same-week primaries point the same direction. SereneDB pitched its engine at agent fleets firing hundreds of queries a second. Verda raised $189M led by Emergence Capital on a company-stated $165M annualized run rate to build inference capacity, targeting 250+ MW in 2027 with customers in 50+ countries. Linear rebuilt CI because agent-written PRs saturated its runners. Deel reports 10,000 live internal agents handling 250,000 cases a month. None of these are model-pricing stories, which is where every 2026 budget conversation still starts. (Verda)