Remark Secures $16M to Revolutionize E-commerce with AI-Powered Human Expert Models

Remark raises $16M to build out human-powered expert models for e-commerce | TechCrunch

Startups working on AI-powered e-commerce tools often rely on external data or user signals to build and improve their models. However, a company called Remark is taking a different approach by letting thousands of human experts chat with users while they are purchasing items, and then using that knowledge to train models. Remark also makes those experts "available" all the time by having their AI-powered persona answer questions. Remark said that this resulted in a 10% net revenue gain for partners, which was a great sign for investors. The startup on Tuesday announced $16 million in Series A funding led by Inspired Capital with participation from Stripe, Neo, Spero Ventures, Shine Capital, and Visible Ventures. This brings the startup's total funding to date to $27 million. Remark plans to use the funds to grow its team of 25 people and spend on model training. Remark joins a number of startups that are plugging AI into various areas of e-commerce, such as search, try-ons, chatbots, and dynamic page generation that is suited for AI-powered experiences. While these companies operate in different areas, merchants can only spend so much to enhance their online experience. In this market, Remark could have challenges in scaling and competing with other e-commerce startups using AI. While Remark previously depended on a cut of the sale to generate revenue, the company has moved to a SaaS-based (software-as-a-service) model for better cash flow and now takes a fee based on site traffic. The company's CEO, Theo Satloff, said that physical stores tend to see high conversion rates of 30-35% compared to online stores that convert at roughly 1.5%. With Remark, the startup wanted to change that. "The reason for low conversion rates on e-commerce sites is that people have a lot of questions when they shop. They have to go on Reddit or ask their friends to get advice about the purchase. In a store, a person with product knowledge helps them, so the conversion rate is high," he explained. "At Remark, we want to bring that kind of expertise to online shopping for our partners," Satloff said in a call with TechCrunch. When a user visits a site that uses Remark, the startup's tool generates a set of dynamic questions that can drive the user's purchasing decision. If a user is looking for pots and pans, the site could ask what kind of stovetop they have, or if they use diesel conduction or gas. When the user clicks on one of these questions, a chat interface opens where they're matched with an expert who can offer advice about buying an item. Remark matches an expert with a user based on skill set and locale, it says. If an expert is not available, the user is matched with an AI bot based on those experts who can help them with their shopping. The company is slowly expanding its expert network. Satloff said Remark works with a variety of accreditation agencies to verify the expertise of the people who work with them. (This is akin to Airbnb adding various experience providers for its platform.) Experts are paid for their time on the platform on a per-chat basis. They are also paid when their AI persona converts a sale. While the startup didn't provide an exact figure for the average earnings that an expert receives, it said its top 20% earn $60,000-$70,000 per year by spending more than 15-20 hours a week offering advice. The catch is that the human expert needs to be alert to requests from users. When a user activates a chat, experts get a notification on their phone on Remark's app, and they have five to eight seconds to claim the chat and respond to the buyer. Remark also dynamically rewrites the content on the website based on the user's conversation with the expert and what they might be looking for. The company has been growing quickly. Following its $10 million fundraise in 2023, Remark has seen 4x revenue growth. It also increased its network of experts from 50,000 to 60,000. Kamran Ali, a Principal at Inspired Capital, said that Remark's utilization of human insights was an important factor in the VC firm investing in the startup. "As AI continues to take over the Internet, we're going to continue to be inundated with just a ton of AI-generated content everywhere we go. The amount of AI-generated content we see today is dramatically more than a year ago, and that's there's no end in sight. So, having human insights and preferences will actually be at a premium, and that's what attracted us to invest in Remark," he told TechCrunch over a call. Remark is now working on the ability to generate blog posts that recommend products based on expert conversations. Later, it plans to send personalized follow-up emails to users about a conversation they had with an expert.

Remark raises $16 million for AI-based online shopping assistant

This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. The round was led by Inspired Capital, with participation from Stripe, Neo, Spero Ventures, Shine Capital, and Visible Ventures, bringing the company's total funding to $27 million. Despite trillions spent on e-commerce infrastructure, the single most effective driver of sales -- the in-store expert -- has never been replicated online. Shoppers crave personalized guidance, and when they receive it, they convert at staggering rates. Merchants that deliver tailored product advice see meaningfully higher conversion rates, larger order values, and reduced return rates. Remark brings this high-converting experience online, turning passive browsing into confident buying through AI personas trained by over 60,000 human product experts and counting. Remark's language models are trained on the knowledge, tone, and preferences of Olympic athletes, stylists, estheticians, new parents, and more. These insights become always-on digital advisors embedded directly in brand storefronts. Unlike generic chatbots or large language models fine-tuned on public data, Remark's personas are trained on the anecdotes and personal knowledge of subject-matter experts. The result is warm, informed guidance that helps customers find the right products and delivers the kind of personalized, high-touch experience shoppers expect in store. "We believe AI should elevate the human experience, not replace it," said Theo Satloff, CEO and co-founder of Remark. "By working with real product experts to train AI personas, we're creating guidance that's trusted, helpful, and deeply personal. Our goal is to make online shopping feel less like a transaction and more like being guided by someone who truly understands what you need." Since its funding last year, Remark has grown revenue 4x year-over-year, maintained 100% retention across more than 60 brand partners, and achieved nearly 130% net dollar retention. Remark has driven tens of millions in net new revenue for its customers, delivering an average lift of 10%, and has converted 28% of shoppers -- far above the industry average of 1%. It has also helped brands save over $3.2 million in customer service costs by reducing support tickets and guiding shoppers to the right fit more efficiently. "Remark is redefining how brands connect with customers," said Kamran Ali, Principal at Inspired Capital. "They've created an entirely new category of AI-native commerce, one that blends real human expertise with scalable technology. Remark is proving that this model not only improves the shopping experience, but also directly drives business results." As shoppers increasingly expect deeper guidance in categories like health, beauty, apparel, and outdoor gear, Remark gives merchants a competitive edge by combining the revenue driving power of human retail sales associates with the speed and scale of AI. With this new funding, Remark will expand into new verticals, grow its expert network, and deepen its tooling for training, deployment, and analytics. The company is also building new systems to help brands launch AI personas faster, measure performance in real time, and adapt to shifting customer needs.

Remark Raises $16 Million for AI Personas That Guide Online Shoppers | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The company will use the new funding to expand into new verticals, grow its network of experts, and enhance its systems for deploying AI personas and measuring their performance, according to a Tuesday (July 1) press release. "By working with real product experts to train AI personas, we're creating guidance that's trusted, helpful and deeply personal," Remark CEO and co-founder Theo Satloff said in the release. "Our goal is to make online shopping feel less like a transaction and more like being guided by someone who truly understands what you need." Remark's AI personas are trained by more than 60,000 human subject-matter experts, including Olympic athletes, stylists, estheticians and new parents, according to the release. The language models are trained on the experts' knowledge, tone and preferences, enabling the AI personas to share anecdotes, personal knowledge and informed guidance, the release said. For the brand partners who deploy this technology, the AI personas convert a greater share of shoppers -- 28% compared to the industry average of 1% -- and reduce customer service costs by guiding shoppers to the right products, per the release. Since Remark's previous funding round last year, the company has quadrupled its revenue and retained all of its more than 60 brand partners, according to the release. Kamran Ali, principal at Inspired Capital, which led the funding round, said in the release that Remark is "redefining how brands connect with customers." "Remark is proving that this model not only improves the shopping experience, but also directly drives business results," Ali said. The PYMNTS Intelligence report "What Generative AI Has in Store for the Retail Industry" found that the advent of AI and machine learning spurred a new era in retail personalization. More than 90% of retailers now use AI to automate personalization efforts and deliver real-time, tailored customer experiences, according to the report. The report also found that 44% of retail shoppers are open to using chatbots for product information before making purchase decisions, and 35% would use chatbots for customer service support.