This article by Maija Ehlinger was featured in Hypepotamus on January 11, 2021.
Even before the pandemic, getting in front of the right customers was hard for retailers, restaurateurs, and e-commerce store owners.
As email open rates fell over the course of the last few years — and foot traffic into physical stores all but dried up in 2020 — marketers have had to get creative to retain customers.
Voxie believes text messages are the answer.
As a text marketing platform, Voxie automates and manages large-scale text messaging campaigns for businesses and retailers. This might look like a check-in on how a newly purchased product is working for a customer or a brand-relevant drip campaign to send coupons or survey links.
The startup says that their campaigns see a 98% open rate and a 30% click-through rate.
Having businesses pivot to text marketing makes sense, given that the average American spends 5.4 hours per day on a phone. For the team, text messaging helps open up conversations and deeper relationships with customers.
Taking its name from the Norwegian and Swedish word for ‘to grow,’ Voxie been on its own unique growth path in 2020 and 2021.
“We experienced record growth in 2020 as we shifted our strategy to helping impacted retail and restaurant brands who needed a better way to connect with and sell to their customer base – which was Voxie’s AI text marketing platform,” CEO and Metro Atlanta native Bogdan Constantin told Hypepotamus. “We grew over 600% and we now work with retail brands like Buff City Soap, Spice and Tea Exchange, Massage Heights, Sun Tan City for the majority but also LG, Enfamil, and Mucinex.”
Now, the team has closed its Series A funding round, which includes several well-known Atlanta firms and individuals.
The $6.7 million funding round was led by Noro-Moseley Partners with participation from Atlanta-based Circadian Ventures, Engage Ventures, as well as Atlanta entrepreneurs Wain Kellum, Andy Powell, David Cummings, and Fred Castellucci.
Mike Dowdle, who launched Circadian Ventures in late 2020, was drawn to Voxie’s concept and Constantin’s “infectious passion for this business.”
“Looking at the challenges from email volume and declining open rates, marketing via SMS is the next frontier. Voxie has figured out how to do it in a way that delivers, not just a marketing message, but actual convenience and value to the receiver. No other company is approaching SMS the way Voxie is,” Dowdle told Hypepotamus.
“With very little capital, the team has proven the value that Voxie delivers. The ROI that Voxie customers are getting is absolutely outstanding!”
60% of Voxie’s team is in the Metro Atlanta area, with other team members in Denver, Boston, and Mexico City.
With just under 30 full-time employees at the moment, Constantin says they are looking to hire 1-2 people weekly “for the foreseeable future.”