Receptionist
Venture Round in 2023
Receptionist is a media firm that provides consulting and operational services aimed at enhancing business communication. The company has developed a reception system that replaces traditional messaging tools reliant on internal landlines. This innovative system allows for direct notifications to smartphones, informing users of the person in charge without the need for telephone staff. By streamlining communication processes, Receptionist helps businesses reduce meeting start times, ultimately creating more efficient work environments.
Community
Venture Round in 2023
Community is a social engagement platform that enables effective two-way communication between influencers and their audiences. It provides a unique 10-digit phone number that connects businesses, brands, public figures, and creators directly to their consumers. By facilitating interactions without the challenges of commercial interests, toxicity, and data privacy issues commonly found on social media, the platform allows a diverse range of users—including global brands, sports teams, artists, and small businesses—to engage with their audience on a personal level. This approach enhances communication and fosters meaningful relationships between influencers and their followers.
Charles is a Berlin-based company specializing in WhatsApp marketing solutions. It offers a user-friendly platform that enables brands to establish and manage a GDPR-compliant WhatsApp channel to enhance customer engagement and drive sales. Key features of the platform include Campaigns, which allow brands to send marketing messages and track consumer responses, and Journeys, which facilitate the creation of automated conversational flows, such as product finders and promotional competitions. Additionally, Charles provides analytics and proactive support to help brands optimize their messaging strategies and improve customer relationships through effective communication on messaging applications.
Front is a communication hub that centralizes customer interactions across various digital channels to enhance relationship management. The platform focuses on streamlining conversations by integrating collaboration tools and contextual data from multiple systems, allowing teams to provide timely, accurate, and personalized communications. Over 7,500 businesses, including notable names like Shopify, Airbnb, and Hulu, utilize Front to improve their customer engagement. The company's multi-channel inbox platform specializes in consolidating communication, facilitating internal discussions, and incorporating social features, thus enabling users to chat effectively and save time. By placing customer conversations at the forefront, Front empowers organizations to build stronger relationships through each interaction.
Zeals is a prominent conversational commerce company based in Japan, catering to over 400 large domestic and multinational enterprises. The company specializes in providing automated conversational engagement through its ZEALS Chatbot Commerce platform, which operates on messaging applications. This service aims to enhance customer interaction by mimicking the experience of a human sales representative, thereby transforming the way commerce is conducted and improving overall customer engagement.
Troops
Acquisition in 2022
Troops.ai is a revenue communications platform that enhances sales velocity, visibility, and collaboration for sales teams. It operates as a Slackbot, providing real-time transparency into Salesforce information. Users can configure Salesforce reports, communicate deal wins, and access both standard and custom Salesforce data through Slack. The platform leverages artificial intelligence to generate customizable notifications and facilitate data updates across various applications. By delivering actionable pipeline alerts, Troops.ai aims to increase sales activity and improve overall performance. The company has attracted investments from notable firms, including First Round Capital, Founder Collective, and others, reflecting its significant potential in the sales technology market.
Community
Venture Round in 2021
Community is a social engagement platform that enables effective two-way communication between influencers and their audiences. It provides a unique 10-digit phone number that connects businesses, brands, public figures, and creators directly to their consumers. By facilitating interactions without the challenges of commercial interests, toxicity, and data privacy issues commonly found on social media, the platform allows a diverse range of users—including global brands, sports teams, artists, and small businesses—to engage with their audience on a personal level. This approach enhances communication and fosters meaningful relationships between influencers and their followers.
SameSky Health
Series B in 2020
SameSky Health is a provider of multicultural engagement and navigation solutions tailored for health plans, providers, and states. The company specializes in connecting payers, providers, and health systems with diverse Medicare patient populations through a patient engagement platform. This platform offers integrated services that include multi-channel messaging, care navigation, and data insights and consultancy. By addressing the unique needs of culturally diverse populations, SameSky Health aims to enhance patient engagement, reduce unnecessary emergency room visits, and ultimately improve health outcomes and the quality of care provided.
Slack Technologies, Inc., established in 2009 and headquartered in San Francisco, operates a cloud-based communication and collaboration platform, Slack. This platform facilitates team messaging, file sharing, and integration with various business tools, catering to a wide range of industries, from startups to large enterprises. Slack's software-as-a-service model enables real-time communication and data sharing, aiming to increase organizational efficiency and productivity.
Receptionist
Series C in 2020
Receptionist is a media firm that provides consulting and operational services aimed at enhancing business communication. The company has developed a reception system that replaces traditional messaging tools reliant on internal landlines. This innovative system allows for direct notifications to smartphones, informing users of the person in charge without the need for telephone staff. By streamlining communication processes, Receptionist helps businesses reduce meeting start times, ultimately creating more efficient work environments.
Bonobo AI
Acquisition in 2019
Bonobo AI is a Tel Aviv-based platform established in 2017, specializing in marketing automation and behavioral insights for conversational human-machine interactions. The company focuses on analyzing customer interactions across various channels, consolidating fragmented data to provide actionable insights. By leveraging artificial intelligence, Bonobo AI enables organizations to enhance their understanding of customer behavior, facilitating improved relationships and personalized experiences. The platform aims to drive customer satisfaction and loyalty by providing tools that support conversion, retention, and upselling efforts throughout the customer journey.
Receptionist
Series B in 2019
Receptionist is a media firm that provides consulting and operational services aimed at enhancing business communication. The company has developed a reception system that replaces traditional messaging tools reliant on internal landlines. This innovative system allows for direct notifications to smartphones, informing users of the person in charge without the need for telephone staff. By streamlining communication processes, Receptionist helps businesses reduce meeting start times, ultimately creating more efficient work environments.
Hustle, Inc. operates a peer-to-peer text messaging platform that allows organizations to communicate directly with their contacts. Founded in 2014 and based in San Francisco, the company offers a software-as-a-service solution that supports personal text messaging for various purposes, including event attendance, fundraising, admissions, recruiting, advocacy, and sales and marketing. Hustle's platform emphasizes two-way conversations, enabling users to engage in meaningful dialogues with large audiences. It also provides tools for tracking goals, managing contacts, and viewing conversation histories, which help clients strengthen relationships and enhance their outreach efforts. Through this approach, Hustle aims to connect organizations with a broader demographic in an efficient and effective manner.
Hustle, Inc. operates a peer-to-peer text messaging platform that allows organizations to communicate directly with their contacts. Founded in 2014 and based in San Francisco, the company offers a software-as-a-service solution that supports personal text messaging for various purposes, including event attendance, fundraising, admissions, recruiting, advocacy, and sales and marketing. Hustle's platform emphasizes two-way conversations, enabling users to engage in meaningful dialogues with large audiences. It also provides tools for tracking goals, managing contacts, and viewing conversation histories, which help clients strengthen relationships and enhance their outreach efforts. Through this approach, Hustle aims to connect organizations with a broader demographic in an efficient and effective manner.
Claire is a U.S.-based company established in 2015 by Marta Jamrozik and Misha Laskin, specializing in market survey and advertising services through a Facebook Messenger bot. This innovative platform enables brands and retailers to test consumer products effectively by identifying top and underperforming items before they go into production. Through interactive surveys, Claire helps businesses optimize their products and advertising campaigns. The bot facilitates consumer engagement by sending emails with links to chat and rewarding participants with loyalty points and giveaways. Additionally, Claire analyzes consumer interactions to provide brands with valuable insights, enhancing their decision-making processes.
Layer, Inc. is a technology company based in San Francisco, California, specializing in the development of an open communications layer platform for the Internet. Founded in 2011, Layer enables developers to integrate rich messaging, voice, and video capabilities into their applications. The company's offerings include Atlas, a customizable UI kit designed for enhancing messaging features, as well as software development kits (SDKs) for both iOS and Android platforms. Additionally, Layer provides a Client API that allows browser-based applications to incorporate chat and communication services, along with a Platform API that facilitates the automation, extension, and integration of these services with other applications. Through its innovative tools, Layer aims to enhance customer interaction for businesses by improving communication between companies and their clients.
HeyWire
Acquisition in 2016
HeyWire is a provider of a live-text messaging channel that connects consumers with businesses through various messaging formats, including SMS and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. The company has developed award-winning solutions that integrate seamlessly with Salesforce, allowing businesses to enable conversational text messaging through their existing phone numbers. This service facilitates direct communication between customers and brands, enhancing customer satisfaction while helping to reduce operational costs. With a proven messaging cloud solution, HeyWire has delivered over 8 billion messages to date. The company is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Quip is a living document platform that combines docs, spreadsheets, and communication all in one to help teams get work done faster and smarter. Enabling a frictionless workflow for creating and iterating on living documents, Quip was built for the way people work today -- across a variety of devices and locations. Quip's simple interface combines documents and messages into a single chat-like "thread" of updates, making collaboration immediate and easy. Quip lets you work with people, not files. Some of Quip's customers include Facebook, New Relic, Instacart, Al Jazeera, Product Hunt, and Pinterest, among others. Quip was founded in 2012 by Bret Taylor and Kevin Gibbs. Bret and Kevin have created and worked on some of the world's most widely-used tech products, including Google Maps, Google App Engine and Facebook. Quip is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.
RedKix is an Israeli company that develops and markets enterprise software focused on enhancing workplace communication and collaboration. As a subsidiary of Facebook, RedKix offers a unified communication application that integrates real-time messaging, group channels, and email, aiming to streamline team interactions and eliminate friction in collaboration. Its solutions are designed to facilitate seamless communication among teams, customers, and partners, ultimately creating a more efficient and anxiety-free work environment.
Helpshift
Series B in 2016
Helpshift, Inc. is a company that specializes in mobile customer service software, providing a support platform designed for both mobile and web applications. Established in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, Helpshift addresses the specific needs of the mobile era by offering an in-app help experience. Its platform features functionalities such as in-app FAQs, chat, a comprehensive CRM ticketing system, campaigns, and surveys, all aimed at enhancing customer engagement. Helpshift pioneered in-app messaging for support, allowing users to resolve issues without leaving their apps. Utilizing automation through bots, the platform can handle up to 90% of user inquiries, significantly improving response times and lowering costs. Helpshift serves a wide range of prominent clients, including Supercell, Tencent, and Microsoft, and is installed on two billion devices worldwide, reaching over 820 million active consumers each month.
Netomi develops a conversational artificial intelligence platform designed to enhance customer experiences for brands and businesses. The platform enables seamless interactions on mobile messaging applications, allowing users to make product recommendations, inquire about product availability, and receive assistance with purchases. Additionally, it automates routine customer service tasks across various sectors, including retail, e-commerce, gaming, telecommunications, and travel. Netomi's solutions support multiple channels, such as messaging, chat, email, and voice, and are designed to be easily integrated with popular tools like Zendesk, Salesforce, and Shopify. Founded in 2015 and based in San Mateo, California, with additional offices in New York and Gurugram, India, Netomi has established itself as a leader in customer experience AI, emphasizing operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Its no-code deployment model allows for quick implementation and scalability, enabling businesses to meet evolving customer expectations effectively.
Twilio is a cloud-based communications company that empowers developers and businesses to build and integrate voice, video, messaging, and authentication into their applications via a robust set of APIs. By merging cloud computing, web services, and telecommunications, Twilio is transforming traditional telecom, enabling more contextual and personalized customer interactions. The company's Super Network ensures fast, cost-effective communication across the globe.
Layer, Inc. is a technology company based in San Francisco, California, specializing in the development of an open communications layer platform for the Internet. Founded in 2011, Layer enables developers to integrate rich messaging, voice, and video capabilities into their applications. The company's offerings include Atlas, a customizable UI kit designed for enhancing messaging features, as well as software development kits (SDKs) for both iOS and Android platforms. Additionally, Layer provides a Client API that allows browser-based applications to incorporate chat and communication services, along with a Platform API that facilitates the automation, extension, and integration of these services with other applications. Through its innovative tools, Layer aims to enhance customer interaction for businesses by improving communication between companies and their clients.
Flotype
Seed Round in 2012
Flotype Inc. is a venture-backed company building a suite of enterprise technology for real-time messaging. Flotype takes a unique approach by building developer-friendly technologies focused on ease-of-use and simplicity, while still exceeding enterprise-grade performance expectations. Flotype licenses enterprise-grade middleware, Bridge, to customers ranging from social web and software enterprises to financial and fleet management groups. Other offerings include NowJS, a free, open-source framework, for developers seeking real-time interactivity on Node.js and JavaScript browsers. NowCluster is available for companies seeking scalability and reliability for NowJS applications. Established in 2010 and based in Berkeley, California, Flotype is venture-backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Ignition Partners, InterWest Partners, and Salesforce.com.
Zorap enables real-time participatory events, activities, ad-hoc meetings and calls on the internet. The company's media-agnostic multi-point sharing and communication service enables sharing of live media - including photos, music, videos, and other types of files — either from their computer, or from sources on the internet. The services also allow users to share webcams, microphones, and text. Up to 50 people can participate simultaneously. Zorap integrates with social media sites (iMeem or YouTube as examples), social networks (Ning or Facebook as examples) and user presence info (multiple sources). Additional integrations will facilitate shared game experiences and product "show and tell." The company has raised $1M in funding from private investors.