Unify, an OpenAI Converge accelerator grad, lands $12M for ‘warm outbound’ messages

Unify raised $12M for AI-driven 'warm outbound' messaging.

: Unify, a 20-month-old startup, secured $12M in a Series A round led by Emergence Capital and Thrive Capital for its AI-powered 'warm outbound' messaging. Co-founders Austin Hughes and Connor Heggie focus on using data to personalize sales outreach to potential buyers. Unlike AISDRs, Unify emphasizes data over messaging, looking up to companies like Zoominfo rather than competing with AISDR startups.

Unify, a startup that completed the OpenAI Converge accelerator program, recently raised $12 million in a Series A funding round led by Emergence Capital and Thrive Capital. The company, co-founded by Austin Hughes and Connor Heggie, had previously secured a $7 million seed round from the same investors after graduating from the accelerator program.

Hughes, who formerly led sales at Ramp, realized that the traditional cold email approach to sales was losing its effectiveness. He leveraged this insight to co-found Unify with the goal of helping sales, marketing, and revenue teams utilize data to send personalized outreach messages at precisely the right time.

Although AI-driven sales apps are booming, Unify distinguishes itself by focusing on what it calls 'warm outbound' rather than joining the crowded AISDR space. Hughes emphasizes that Unify is a data-driven company and prefers to compete with firms like Zoominfo in leveraging data for meaningful customer interactions, thereby differentiating its approach.

AI salesStartup FundingWarm Outbound