After buying common messaging apps Beeper and Texts.com, WordPress.com proprietor Automattic has added one other communication-focused startup to its lineup: relationship-management app Clay.
Monetary phrases of the deal weren’t disclosed, however Clay had up to now raised over $9 million in enterprise capital from traders like Normal Catalyst and Forerunner Ventures. The instrument will proceed to be supported and can later be built-in with different Automattic merchandise, like Beeper.
Clay’s software program, launched in 2021, is one thing of a wiser deal with guide or private CRM, letting customers manage the folks they know and sustain with their newest updates by pulling in knowledge from providers like LinkedIn, Fb, WhatsApp and X, in addition to deal with books and calendars.
You need to use the app to maintain up with belongings you wish to learn about folks, like job modifications, relocations, up to date bios, latest social posts, and extra. Clay additionally helps you to add notes to handle guide entries, so you may notice how and once you met, or the names of their youngsters, for example. A timeline for every entry exhibits when notes have been added, the final time you reached out, and different instances you engaged.
The app later inbuilt AI, including an AI helper referred to as Nexus that permits you to ask questions on your community, like who you recognize at a specific firm, or who it’s best to join with when visiting New York. Past that, the AI bot is supposed to combine along with your every day workflow.
As a part of the acquisition, which closed final week, Clay’s small group, together with its co-founders Zachary Hamed and Matthew Achariam, is becoming a member of Automattic.
“Our mission […] is to assist with relationships and enhance conscientiousness,” Achariam stated. “That’s at all times been our North Star, and all of the options […] reinforce that by bringing these completely different points of relationship administration into one platform and one instrument.”
Automattic stated it made sense to purchase Clay due to its potential to be built-in into the corporate’s broader ecosystem, which at this time consists of the universal chat app Beeper (a merger of the Texts.com and Beeper acquisitions).
Clay’s founders, in the meantime, have a way of a shared mission with Automattic, and respect that they’ll get to proceed to develop their app. (Typically, good deal with guide startups are eaten up by their acquirer after which sadly wound down.)
“We’re very excited concerning the longevity facet of this,” stated Hamed. “We imagine that this must be one thing that exists past, like, anyone firm,” he added.
For Clay, the long-term plan at Automattic consists of integrating with Beeper, and in the end changing into an identification layer for quite a lot of completely different instruments.
These plans are usually not finalized, nevertheless, nor might Automattic decide to a timeframe for that progress. It additionally wouldn’t share if Clay’s pricing is because of change sooner or later. Presently, the service is a freemium providing, with its paid plans starting at $10 per month, or $40 per seat, monthly for groups.
Clay’s founders stated they imagine their values are much like Automattic’s, which is why the deal made sense.
“One in all their predominant ethos is this concept of open supply, and the concept that’s one of the crucial highly effective forces of our lifetimes. And we are inclined to agree,” stated Achariam.
Clay’s group can also be considering integrating with different open applied sciences going ahead, like ActivityPub, utilized by Mastodon, and AT Protocol, utilized by Bluesky.
Clay didn’t share any numbers about its userbase, however it did say that its app manages over 150 million relationships. The app is on the market on macOS, Home windows, iOS, and internet.