Brindisi, 21 January 2025 – Spoki – an Italian startup established as a leading conversational marketing platform in Italy with a focus on WhatsApp automation – announces that it has successfully completed a 5.5 million euro Series A investment round with the involvement of leading strategic partners such as Blacksheep MadTech Fund, CDP Venture Capital (participating through the Digital Transition Fund and the Fondo Italia Venture II Fondo Imprese Sud), Finint Investments and Apside (a 50/50 joint venture of Intesa Sanpaolo and Zest S.p.A.).

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Apulia, in San Vito dei Normanni, Brindisi, Spoki has been able to attract new partners thanks to an excellent track record and successful case histories, with a mission to help millions of companies build direct, authentic relationships with their customers, positioning itself as the ultimate enabler for marketing, sales and customer care, including through the use of advanced AI.

It is with this in mind that Spoki developed a conversational platform designed to support companies in managing customer communications through WhatsApp, harnessing its potential to automate communications by enabling companies to send promotional message campaigns, integrate conversational flows with systems such as e-commerce, ERP and CRM, and offer fast, efficient customer support via chat, including through the implementation of artificial intelligence.

Accelerated in 2023 by Magic Mind, the acceleration programme of Zest and Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo focused on AI, Spoki has already won over more than 1,700 national and international customers, including leading brands such as Feltrinelli, GioiaPura, Doppelgänger, WeRoad, Università Telematica Pegaso, Bauzaar, Zuiki, Macingo, Italian Optic and many others. In addition to these, hundreds of SMEs from different sectors have already taken steps to anticipate the pace of innovation and achieve extraordinary results through the use of Spoki, such as increases in turnover of over 30% and ROAs of 25x. In 2023 Spoki recorded growth of 230%, which increased to 250% YoY in 2024.

The support of the new investors and the synergy created with them will enable Spoki to solidify its presence in the Italian market, as well as accelerate growth and open up to the international market. In fact, following an intense period of exploration involving attendance at prestigious trade fairs and important international partnerships (such as with ActiveCampaign, eShoppingAdvisor and Qaplà), entry into the flourishing Spanish market is planned for next year.

In the words of Giorgio Pagliara, CEO and Founder of Spoki, “With the support of new strategic partners who share our same values and goals, we are preparing to enthusiastically continue our ambitious growth. This investment not only proves the value of Spoki, but strengthens our determination to make a difference in the market. We are confident that together we will be able to access new markets and seize further business opportunities, offering increasingly effective solutions to our customers and establishing ourselves as a game changer in the industry”.

Umberto Bottesini, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of BlackSheep, added that “Emerging technologies are radically transforming the dynamics of direct marketing. Traditional contact channels like email and text messaging are giving way to more immediate and personal tools such as WhatsApp, which, integrated with artificial intelligence, allow brands to establish more personalised dialogues with consumers while offering quick, efficient assistance. Spoki has developed a solution that represents the state of the art in European conversational marketing, offering companies unprecedented opportunities to understand and anticipate consumer needs. We are convinced that this solution has great growth potential and enormous scalability”.

Enrico Filì, Manager of CDP Venture Capital Sgr's Digital Transition Fund, commented: “We are proud to welcome Spoki to our investment portfolio, being a start-up that well represents the excellence and innovative potential of southern Italy. This operation, executed as part of the digital transition and supported by NRRP resources and by the Italia Venture II Fund, whose main objective is to develop innovation in southern Italy, confirms our commitment to promoting the growth of businesses that combine technology, entrepreneurship and sustainability. Spoki is an example of how talent and vision can be turned into cutting-edge digital solutions that improve customers' digital experiences”.