AI-Driven Marketing Automation Startup Conversion Raises $28 Million Series A
Conversion, an AI-powered marketing automation startup founded five years ago by two UC Berkeley dropouts, has secured $28 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Abstract, with additional backing from True Ventures and HOF Capital.
From High School Curiosity to Startup Success
The story of Conversion begins with co-founder and CEO Neil Tewari, who first showed an interest in entrepreneurship while still in high school. After getting caught watching a TechCrunch Disrupt livestream during class, he was sent to the principal’s office. Rather than calling his parents, he reached out to a family friend, sharing his entrepreneurial ambitions. Four years later, that same friend became the first investor in their company.
James Jiao, Tewari’s college roommate and now CTO of Conversion, shared the same dream of building a startup. Together, they experimented with various marketing products before landing on the idea behind Conversion. Initially, they developed automation features on top of HubSpot for their own internal use.
Finding Product-Market Fit Through Customer Discovery
What started as an internal tool soon evolved into a product with commercial potential. The founders conducted about 160 customer interviews over two months, speaking with VPs of marketing at companies ranging from 50 to 500 employees. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, highlighting common pain points around automating specific marketing tasks.
With this validation, the family friend helped connect them with more marketing executives, leading to a $2 million seed round. At 19, both founders dropped out of college to dedicate themselves full-time to Conversion. They lived frugally, sharing a two-bedroom apartment with five roommates, making the most of their limited resources.
Integrating AI to Address Marketing Automation Gaps
The arrival of ChatGPT and AI advancements created new opportunities for Conversion. Unlike many legacy marketing tools that only partially support AI integration, Conversion built AI capabilities directly into its platform. This allows marketing teams to automate workflows such as lead organization and personalized follow-up emails more effectively.
Conversion’s AI features aim to fill gaps left by older tools, enabling marketing teams to enrich contacts and streamline processes without manual intervention.
Growth and Market Position
Over the past two years, Conversion has approached $10 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). About 90% of its customers are midsize businesses that have replaced legacy marketing platforms with Conversion’s AI-driven solution.
The marketing automation space is crowded, with established players like HubSpot, Adobe Marketo, and Salesforce Pardot competing alongside AI-native startups such as Jasper, Writer AI, Iterable, and Copy.ai. Conversion’s strategy focuses on attracting businesses currently using older marketing tools rather than targeting startups selecting their first platform.
Looking Ahead
The company has raised a total of $30 million between its seed and Series A rounds. With their business gaining traction, the founders have improved their living conditions, each now having their own apartment and rooms—no more cramped living quarters or roommates sleeping in closets.
Marketing professionals interested in AI-driven automation can explore training options to better understand these emerging tools and techniques. For those looking to expand their skills in AI applications for marketing, Complete AI Training offers relevant courses that cover automation and AI integration in marketing workflows.
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