Connectly, a leader in conversational commerce, announced a $20 million Series B investment led by Alibaba, with participation from Unusual Ventures, Volpe Capital, RX Ventures, Falabella Ventures, and Philippos Kourkoulos Latsis. The company – which was launched in 2020 by industry veterans from Facebook, Google, Uber, and McKinsey – utilizes proprietary AI models to help retailers grow their business using personalized two-way customer messages in an increasingly digital-first world.
Most interactions between brands and consumers are through old-fashioned one-way communication channels, like SMS & email, that produce shallow engagement and read rates. Businesses need a personalized two-way conversation to communicate with their customers and boost sales and engagement efficiently. And Connectly’s code-free platform is quick to onboard and deploy, enabling businesses to instantly create interactive campaigns and use AI to automate two-way conversations – to prospective leads and loyal customers – at scale. This, in turn, gives organizations tangible results that include increased conversions, engaging customers, and improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.
This Series B funding follows a milestone year for Connectly, including increasing its Series A investment in October 2023, which marked its entrance into the U.S. market. The company also launched Sofia AI—its easy-to-use advanced AI product recommendation assistant—in 2023 and nearly doubled its revenue and headcount over the past year.
KEY QUOTES:
“Now more than ever, customers are looking for personalized interactions with retail and e-commerce brands. At Connectly, we are vigorously working to bring AI-powered conversational commerce to brands around the world to create more personalized interactions at scale. We have already accomplished so much in the past year, including launching a new AI Search for businesses and Sofia AI. Support from Alibaba, one of the largest retailers on the planet, is profoundly impactful to our potential, and will enable us to continue to invest in our proprietary AI models and scale our business.”
-Stefanos Loukakos, co-founder and CEO, Connectly
“At Alibaba, we look to partner with innovative companies that are paving the way in their industry. Connectly is doing just that with AI-powered conversational commerce. The company has already accomplished a great deal since it was founded, and we look forward to following the company’s future journey and seeing the impact it has on brands around the globe.”
-A representative of Alibaba
