Conversion just raised $28M Series A led by Abstract, with True Ventures and HOF Capital pitching in. The AI-powered marketing automation startup was founded five years ago by two UC Berkeley dropouts, Neil Tewari and James Jiao.
The idea began as a side project when they built extra automation features on top of HubSpot for their own use. After 160 customer interviews with marketing VPs, they found a strong product-market fit and pivoted to selling their tool.
The two dropped out at 19 to work full time after a $2M seed round. They lived with five roommates in a cramped two-bedroom apartment to stay frugal. 
Then ChatGPT arrived. Conversion baked AI into the product to handle lead organization and personalized follow-ups. This helped the company scale to nearly $10M ARR, mostly from midsize businesses dumping legacy marketing tools.
The market is crowded with legacy players like HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, and AI-first startups including Jasper and Copy.ai. Conversion’s play is to win over businesses switching from older platforms, not first-timers.
The founders have raised $30M to date and recently upgraded from their shared apartment to their own places.
Neil Tewari on their journey:
“I told him I had this interest [in entrepreneurship], and four years later, he was actually the first person to write us a check into the company.”
“It was originally for us.”
“We actually spent like two months doing like 160 customer interviews with VPs of marketing, 50- to 500-employee businesses, and got a much more positive response than we could have imagined.”
“The company has raised a total of $30 million between its seed and Series A, the CEO says, and is doing well enough that the founders have each moved into separate apartments where they have their own rooms, and none of their roommates sleep in a closet.”
