Chicago software firm ActiveCampaign buys AI startup Feedback Intelligence
Chicago software company ActiveCampaign announced Tuesday that it bought AI startup Feedback Intelligence in San Francisco for an undisclosed sum.
ActiveCampaign is a $3 billion AI-driven marketing platform used by hundreds of thousands of small businesses worldwide, according to the Loop-based firm. Founded in 2003, the company uses AI to automate tasks such as email and text message marketing.
Homegrown ActiveCampaign has about 300 employees in Chicago as part of a global workforce of 800 in the U.S., Ireland, Poland, Australia, Brazil and Costa Rica. It is headquartered at 1 N. Dearborn St.
Chinar Movsisyan, founder and CEO of Feedback Intelligence, will join ActiveCampaign’s technology and product organization, and oversee a three-person Feedback Intelligence team, alongside a broader AI team.
The acquisition of Feedback Intelligence’s AI analytics tool strengthens ActiveCampaign's AI engine, called Active Intelligence, which powers fully automated "autonomous marketing" for businesses.
The engine drives interaction between users and AI software, called agents.
“Basic metrics like conversation volume or thumbs-up/thumbs-down don't tell us why an AI agent succeeded or failed,” Chai Atreya, chief product and technology officer at ActiveCampaign, said in a news release. “Feedback Intelligence gives us the visibility to detect unmet customer needs, track sentiment shifts and provide specific recommendations.”
Feedback Intelligence analyzes conversations between AI software and customers to understand user satisfaction, accuracy, friction points and more. Its models evaluate AI software performance and recommend improvements.
Jason VandeBoom, founder and CEO of ActiveCampaign, started the company in 2003 in his apartment as a side project to support his studies in fine arts at the Illinois Institute of Art. He is a self-taught software engineer.
VandeBoom also serves on the board of the Future Founders Foundation, a Chicago-based organization that supports business leaders and young entrepreneurs.
ActiveCampaign was founded more than 20 years ago. But in recent years, Chicago has been making a push to become a tech hub. The West Loop is home to tech companies such as battery maker Pure Lithium, which announced its move from Boston last year; as well as NanoGraf, maker of advanced lithium-ion batteries and MHub, the nonprofit high-tech incubator.
The city aims to establish itself as a tech and quantum computing hub with the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park breaking ground at the former U.S. Steel South Works site last year.