SoftBank Invests in AI Infrastructure Company Pyxis One

Pixis Secures $100 Million in Series C Funding

Pixis, formerly known as Pyxis One, has successfully completed a $100 million Series C funding round. The company intends to utilize these funds to further develop its contextual codeless AI infrastructure, designed for comprehensive marketing optimization.

Investment Details

SoftBank Vision Fund 2 spearheaded the investment, with participation from General Atlantic, a new investor. Existing investors, including Celesta Capital, Premji Invest, and Chiratae Ventures, also contributed to this round.

This new capital infusion arrives only four months following Pixis’s announcement of a $17 million Series B raise, bringing the company’s total funding to $124 million to date.

Company Origins and Evolution

Founded three years ago, Pixis was established by Shubham A. Mishra, Vrushali Prasade, and Hari Valiyath. This marks the second venture the team has undertaken together, following a prior endeavor in the artificial intelligence sector focused on gaming, as Mishra explained.

The company underwent a rebranding initiative, changing its name from Pyxis to Pixis. This decision was prompted by the frequent misspelling of "Pyxis" with an "i" instead of a "y," aiming for a more streamlined and symmetrical identity.

Addressing a Market Need

Before launching Pixis, the founders engaged with CMOs and CROs to understand the challenges of scaling SaaS businesses in a privacy-focused environment. They identified a growing need for systems that respect customer privacy while still enabling effective marketing.

“Many organizations are not yet prepared to meet these demands,” Mishra stated. “Our solution addresses this by providing a no-code AI platform that can be implemented in under eight seconds.”

AI Model Expansion

Currently, Pixis boasts 50 AI models utilizing self-evolving neural networks to enhance marketing campaign optimization. The company plans to expand this number to 200 within the next six months.

Pixis envisions a future where individuals will leverage no-code solutions to function as partial data scientists, according to Mishra.

The "No-Code" Approach

The company emphasizes that its "no-code" claim is genuine. The infrastructure is designed to offer a range of options, from full customization and AI model tweaking for data science teams, to a simplified deployment process requiring only 30 minutes of training and a single button press.

Significant Revenue Growth and Customer Base

Pixis has experienced a remarkable 600% revenue growth since 2018. As of January, the company anticipates exceeding 100 customers, primarily within the mid-to-large enterprise segment, Mishra reported.

Customers utilizing the Pixis AI infrastructure have observed a 20% reduction in customer acquisition costs, alongside substantial savings in manual work hours each month.

Global Expansion Plans

The funding will facilitate the scaling of Pixis’s AI platforms and plug-ins as it expands its reach across North America, Europe, and the APAC region.

“This year represents a significant step forward for us,” Mishra commented. “Last year focused on launching our solution for B2C and DTC marketing; by the end of Q1, we will introduce a solution tailored for B2B and software companies.”

Industry Perspective

Priya Saiprasad, a partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, highlighted Pixis’s uniqueness as a comprehensive end-to-end infrastructure for demand generation. She stated it provides marketing teams with advanced data science capabilities to improve decision-making in a privacy-centric landscape.

Saiprasad believes this capability is a “game-changer” given the substantial marketing budgets allocated by companies, often with significant waste due to ineffective targeting and messaging.

“Pixis’s rapid growth and loyal customer base of large enterprises validate its product-market fit,” Saiprasad added. “The substantial market size – estimated at $455 billion in digital marketing spend in 2021 – and Pixis’s versatile platform position it for continued success.”

Addressing the Evolving Marketing Ecosystem

Shantanu Rastogi, managing director of General Atlantic, noted that Pixis is responding to the shifts in the marketing ecosystem, driven by increased limitations on data sharing. The company is creating new ROI for customers by utilizing predictive AI models to enhance marketing efficiency.

“Pixis is introducing automation and orchestration to an industry that has historically accepted outdated technology as sufficient,” Rastogi stated. “We are pleased to support the team’s growth and global expansion with this investment.”