Spoki, an Italian startup operating in the field of conversational marketing, with a focus on WhatsApp automation, announces that it has completed a €5.5 million Series A investment round backed by Blacksheep MadTech Fund, CDP Venture Capital participating through the Digital Transition Fund and the Fondo Italia Venture II Fondo Imprese Sud, Finint Investments and Apside (an equal joint venture of Intesa Sanpaolo and Zest).
Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Puglia, in San Vito dei Normanni, Spoki’s mission is to help companies build direct and authentic relationships with their customers, positioning itself as the ultimate enabler for marketing, sales and customer care, also using advanced AI.
Spoki develops a conversational platform designed to support companies in managing customer communication through WhatsApp, harnessing its potential to automate communications by enabling companies to send promotional message campaigns, integrate conversation flows with systems such as e-commerce, ERP and CRM, and offer fast and efficient customer support in chat, including through the implementation of artificial intelligence.
The startup, accelerated in 2023 by Magic Mind, the acceleration programme dedicated to AI by Zest and Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, has already won over more than 1,700 national and international customers, including Feltrinelli, GioiaPura, Doppelgänger, WeRoad, Università Telematica Pegaso, Bauzaar, Zuiki, Macingo, and Italian Optic. Alongside these, hundreds of SMEs from different sectors have already moved to anticipate the pace of innovation and achieve extraordinary results through the use of Spoki, such as increases in turnover of over 30% and Roas 25x. In 2023, Spoki recorded 230% growth, increasing to 250% year-on-year in 2024.
The support of the new investors and the synergy created with them will enable Spoki to consolidate its presence on the Italian market, as well as accelerate growth and open up to the international market. In this sense, following an intense period of exploration through the presence at trade fairs and important international partnerships (such as with ActiveCampaign, eShoppingAdvisor and Qaplà), entry into the Spanish market is planned for the near future.
Giorgio Pagliara, CEO and founder of Spoki (pictured with the team), says in a note: ‘With the support of new strategic partners who share our same values and goals, we are preparing to enthusiastically continue our ambitious growth path. This investment not only demonstrates the value of Spoki, but strengthens our determination to make a difference in the market. We are confident that, together, we will be able to access new markets and seize further business opportunities, offering increasingly effective solutions to our customers and establishing ourselves as a game changer in the industry.”
Umberto Bottesini, co-founder and managing partner of BlackSheep, says: “Emerging technologies are radically transforming the dynamics of direct marketing. Traditional contact channels such as email and SMS are giving way to more immediate and personal tools such as WhatsApp, which, integrated with artificial intelligence, allow brands to establish more personalised dialogues with consumers, while offering fast and efficient assistance. Spoki has developed a solution that represents the state-of-the-art in European conversational marketing, offering companies unprecedented opportunities to understand and anticipate consumer needs. We are convinced that this solution has great growth potential and enormous scalability.”
Enrico Filì, Head of CDP Venture Capital’s Digital Transition Fund, adds: ‘We are proud to welcome Spoki, a start-up representing the excellence and innovative potential of southern Italy, to our investment portfolio. This operation, implemented as part of the digital transition and supported by PNRR resources, as well as by the Fondo Italia Venture II, whose main objective is to develop innovation in Southern Italy, confirms our commitment to promoting the growth of realities that combine technology, entrepreneurship and sustainability. Spoki is an example of how talent and vision can be transformed into cutting-edge digital solutions capable of enhancing customers’ digital experiences’.
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