More than ten years ago, four Viennese students started the startup Smart Information Systems with a semantic product search engine. From this project, the internationally successful AI startup Smartassistant developed. Which landed almost unnoticed a million dollar deal. And another brand change went through is Zoovu. It is called now British company, which operates subsidiaries in Austria and Poland.
Only two of the original four founders are operational after CEO Markus Linder vacated his executive chair for an experienced CEO and announced his withdrawal. Martin Schliefnig takes over his board seat and remains responsible for R & D as C Level Executive. Co-founder Svetlana Hollerer works in his team, while Christian Weiss already left the company in 2014.
Pivot for international scale-up
The company, founded in 2006, made its breakthrough about six years ago. The first product was the search engine Esolda, which specialized in detecting and comparing consumer products such as cell phones.
The team went through the university incubator INiTS and grew into the field of smart shopping assistants with the rise of artificial intelligence research. According to Linder at the beginning they created and optimized the assistants for their customers. Then came the pivot and they created a SaaS platform that allows customers to create digital consultants themselves.
Zoovu’s AI consultants works like real consultants
Zoovu’s AI consultants work a bit like real consultants or sellers. At Amazon Germany, for example, you can find the perfect dog food for your dog from an unrivaled range. Zoovu asks about race, age, discomfort or problems with coat or digestion. At the end there are recommendations including explanation why exactly this food would be perfect. This creates the technology for hundreds of product and service domains. The fact that Zoovu or Smartassitant as a customer so far has heard so little, is because the AI consultants usually appear under the brand of the customers.
The company is now a global SaaS provider with more than 150 brands and distributors in more than 80 countries. The main sites of Zoovu are in New York and London with branches in Austria and Poland.
The co-founder says, “I am very proud of what the team has achieved. The AI Assistants are available in 40 languages and the solution is used by millions of users in over 80 countries. Customers include corporations such as Amazon, Microsoft or Canon.”
$ 14 million Series B round
Last year was followed by the last change of brand. A merger with the company Zuvoo, which had founded the Smartassitant makers in London, according to Linder. And the premium solution for small and medium-sized enterprises. The marketing team improved and named the new company Zoovu. Strengthened in this way, the Austrians gathered for further expansion a Series B round over $ 14 million. The lead was taken over by the Berlin based VC Target Global together with the existing British investor Beringea.
The new CEO
“Zoovu is fast becoming one of the key digital assistance software vendors for the world’s leading brands and marketplaces. This includes Amazon, Canon, Coty and Wilson,” said Target Global partner Rytis Vitkauskas, a board member of Zoovu.
“We were impressed with Zoovu’s growth in vertical markets and the focus of the leadership team on building a future-oriented and intuitive SaaS platform. We are confident that Zoovu is well equipped to facilitate shopping experiences and strive to continue supporting their continued growth,”says Vitkauskas.
For this further growth, the company has now acquired an experienced SaaS CEO, Rob Mullen. Who is to scale the company from currently 150 employees to more than 1,000 employees.