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 to this point raised over $9 million in enterprise capital from traders like Basic 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 better handle e book or private CRM, letting customers manage the individuals they know and sustain with their newest updates by pulling in information from companies like LinkedIn, Fb, WhatsApp and X, in addition to handle books and calendars.
You should utilize the app to maintain up with belongings you wish to learn about individuals, like job modifications, relocations, up to date bios, current social posts, and extra. Clay additionally permits you to add notes to handle e book entries, so you’ll be able to observe how and whenever you met, or the names of their youngsters, as an illustration. A timeline for every entry reveals when notes had been added, the final time you reached out, and different instances you engaged.
The app later inbuilt AI, including an AI helper known as Nexus that allows you to ask questions on your community, like who at a selected firm, or who it is best to join with when visiting New York. Past that, the AI bot is supposed to combine together with your day by day workflow.
As a part of the acquisition, which closed final week, Clay’s small workforce, together with its co-founders Zachary Hamed and Matthew Achariam, is becoming a member of Automattic.
“Our mission […] is to help with relationships and increase conscientiousness,” Achariam stated. “That’s always been our North Star, and all the features […] reinforce that by bringing these different aspects of relationship management into one platform and one tool.”
Automattic stated it made sense to purchase Clay due to its skill to be built-in into the corporate’s broader ecosystem, which in the present day contains the common 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, sensible handle e book startups are eaten up by their acquirer after which sadly wound down.)
“We are very excited about the longevity aspect of this,” stated Hamed. “We believe that this should be something that exists beyond, like, any one company,” he added.
For Clay, the long-term plan at Automattic contains integrating with Beeper, and finally turning into an identification layer for quite a lot of totally different instruments.
These plans should 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 beginning at $10 monthly, 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 of their main ethos is this idea of open source, and the idea that that’s one of the most powerful forces of our lifetimes. And we tend to agree,” stated Achariam.
Clay’s workforce can be eager about 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, but it surely did say that its app manages over 150 million relationships. The app is accessible on macOS, Home windows, iOS, and net.
