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Stefanos Loukakos, a former director at Meta’s business-focused Messenger division and a tech giant’s blockchain organization, identified a crucial issue a few years back. Online retailers were struggling to engage potential shoppers effectively. The problem, as he saw it, was the lack of personalized marketing campaigns. Merchants were sending out generic social media, text, and email blasts that failed to engage buyers and drive conversions.
Revolutionizing Customer Messaging
Loukakos met Yandong Liu, former CTO of Strava and a Yahoo researcher, and together they founded Connectly.ai in 2020. This platform leverages AI to assist businesses, especially retailers and e-commerce leaders, in selling their products and services across various messaging platforms. With Connectly, customers can send and receive messages hassle-free without worrying about hosting, managing, or updating software.
Personalized Customer Experience
Connectly’s platform integrates with popular messaging apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS, and web-based chatbots. This integration allows brands to create customized ad campaigns and automate basic conversations with customers. The AI technology, tailored to a retailer’s product catalog and preferences, notifies customers about price changes, stock availability, and exclusive offers.
Connectly also analyzes customer behavior to determine their interests and automatically create audience segments. For instance, if a customer abandons a cart on a brand’s website, Connectly can follow up with a message containing a discount code or a shipping offer.
Future Growth and Expansion
Despite the hesitancy of some consumers to engage with chatbots, Connectly continues to grow. The company has over 300 paying customers, with revenue expected to double in 2024 after a fivefold increase last year. Connectly recently secured a $20 million Series B funding round led by Alibaba, bringing its total raised funds to $37.2 million and valuation to around $100 million.
Alibaba’s involvement could potentially lead to strategic collaborations with Connectly in the future. The company’s spokesperson emphasized their interest in partnering with innovative companies like Connectly that are driving AI-powered conversational commerce forward.
Unusual Ventures, Volpe Capital, RX Ventures, and Falabella Ventures also participated in Connectly’s Series B funding. These funds will be utilized to expand Connectly’s platform and increase its San Francisco-based workforce from 65 employees to nearly 80 by the end of the year.
