Agentic AI Startup AMT Raises Seed Funding - Influencer Marketing

The Challenges of Influencer Marketing and a New AI Solution

Currently, initiating ad campaigns through social media influencers presents notable difficulties. Influencers often employ marketing strategies that deviate from the norm, and a standardized engagement process is lacking. Simultaneously, traditional marketing agencies, despite their staffing, face limitations in the sheer number of influencers they can effectively manage for brand campaigns.

Essentially, the growth of the creator marketing landscape is hindered by the constraints of conventional advertising and marketing agency structures. A more streamlined process would be achievable if an AI chatbot could automate the complex tasks involved, engaging with influencers in a natural manner and scaling across numerous advertising initiatives.

Agentic Marketing Technologies Secures Seed Funding

Agentic Marketing Technologies (AMT) is addressing this challenge with an innovative approach, recently securing $3.5 million in seed funding led by San Francisco-based venture capital firm NFX.

AMT’s solution centers around an AI agent named Lyra, which utilizes natural language processing to interact with influencers. This facilitates tasks such as campaign booking, performance tracking, payment processing, and responding to inquiries. The company asserts that Lyra is also capable of autonomously identifying influencers whose profiles align with specific campaign objectives.

The Founders’ Insight and AMT’s Core Philosophy

Tom Hollands, co-founder and CEO of AMT, shared with TechCrunch that his firsthand experience managing influencer marketing budgets sparked the idea. Co-founder Christian Johnston, serving as CTO, brings prior expertise in building data infrastructure for the adtech sector.

“The current market relies on overburdening young professionals with excessive workloads, leading to burnout,” Hollands explained. “They struggle to maintain detailed records of influencer interactions and dedicate significant time to manual follow-ups,” he added.

Leveraging a Combination of AI Models

AMT integrates a diverse range of AI models, including OpenAI’s for general applications, Google’s Gemini for analyzing creator video content (multimodal analysis), and Hume AI’s for assessing emotional tone. Hollands emphasized, “We strategically select the optimal model for each task, regardless of the provider.”

A key advantage of AI, according to Hollands, is its ability to genuinely “watch” and “understand” influencer content, enabling a more personalized engagement strategy.

“[AI] can discern the unique voice and style of each influencer,” Hollands stated. “This allows for consistent communication across multiple brands, mirroring the approach of a dedicated partnerships manager who maintains a comprehensive history of interactions.”

Early Traction and Customer Base

Having launched just three months ago, AMT is transitioning its operations from London to San Francisco. The company reports already serving clients such as Le Petit Lunetier, Neoplants, and Wild.

Market Opportunity and Competitive Advantage

The influencer marketing sector is projected to reach a value of $266.92 billion this year. Existing influencer marketing platforms, including GRIN, Upfluence, ShopMy, and Agentio, typically require substantial human intervention and operate on a per-seat pricing model. AMT’s AI-driven methodology offers a significantly different economic structure due to its reduced reliance on human resources.

AMT claims its platform can secure an influencer partnership in approximately five minutes, compared to the nine hours of manual effort typically required.

Investor Perspective

Pete Flint, general partner at NFX, commented: “AI is fundamentally transforming various industries, and marketing is no exception. AMT’s innovative approach, focused on replacing human tasks with AI, positions it as a crucial component of the marketing technology stack for brands globally.”