Connectly.ai, a startup co-founded by ex-Meta director Stefanos Loukakos and now backed by Alibaba, is using AI to transform retail marketing by personalizing customer text messages and moving away from ineffective, generic campaigns.
Oct 2, 2025
Source:
StartupNews.fyi
Retail Marketing Reimagined
Frustrated by the impersonal nature of online retail marketing, a former Meta director has launched an AI-powered solution to make customer outreach more effective. Stefanos Loukakos, who previously held leadership roles at Meta's Messenger and blockchain divisions, co-founded Connectly.ai in 2020 to tackle the poor conversion rates caused by generic marketing campaigns.
The company, now backed by Alibaba, aims to revolutionize how businesses interact with shoppers. Loukakos identified that many merchants rely on mass social media, text, and email blasts that fail to resonate with consumers. His venture with co-founder Yandong Liu, former CTO of Strava, introduces a conversational commerce platform designed for personalization.
The Founders' Vision
Connectly.ai was built on a simple premise: treat customers as individuals, not as support tickets or data points. The goal is to centralize communications and empower businesses to build meaningful, revenue-generating relationships through chat.
Stefanos Loukakos (CEO): Brings extensive tech leadership experience from Meta (Facebook), Google, and as CEO of Hellas Online.
Yandong Liu (CTO): Offers deep expertise in building scalable consumer platforms from his time as CTO at Strava and as a researcher at Yahoo.
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Source:
TechCrunch
AI-Powered Conversational Commerce
Connectly.ai provides tools that help businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, convert chat messages into sales. The platform stands out by centralizing customer interactions across several major messaging apps.
Integrated Communication Channels
By unifying communications, Connectly.ai allows retailers to manage conversations seamlessly across multiple platforms from a single hub. Key integrations include:
WhatsApp
SMS
Facebook Messenger
Instagram
This omnichannel approach ensures a consistent and personalized customer experience, regardless of where the conversation starts. The company's focus on message-based marketing is designed to directly boost retailer revenue through improved engagement.
Market Confidence and Growth
Investor confidence in Connectly.ai's model is strong. The San Francisco-based startup has successfully raised over $37 million, according to Endeavor Greece, where it is part of the "Scale Up" cohort. This funding reflects significant early growth and market adoption of its conversational tools.
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Source:
Appetizer Mobile
