Global customer messaging leader, Heyday, announced today a $6.5M CAD ($5.1M USD) Seed round extension to accelerate growth in 2021 and help more retailers adapt to the changing face of commerce amid the pandemic. This extension of its 2019 Seed Round was led by returning investors Innovobot and Desjardins Capital.
The disruption of COVID-19 accelerated the digital transformation of retail and, as a result, Heyday’s growth. In the last two quarters, the company has increased its portfolio of enterprise retail clients by more than 60 percent, doubled its recurring revenue, and is expecting a record-breaking year in 2021.
In conjunction with the new funding, Heyday also announced its selection by iconic fashion and apparel brand Lacoste as its global chat and customer messaging provider. Heyday is globally recognized as the conversational AI provider of choice for small and large retailers, with clients spanning 77 countries and ranging from French sporting goods giant Decathlon, to Danish fashion house Bestseller (Jack & Jones, Vero Moda, Bestseller), to food and consumer product brands like Dannon, and more.
“The pandemic has been an accelerant of existing trends. Ecommerce and remote work have seen decades of growth in days.”, said Steve Desjarlais, co-founder and CEO of Heyday. “In this new “at-home economy”, retailers need new ways to bring their in-store experience online, via their customers’ preferred digital channels including messaging apps. Just like how Slack and Zoom brought the office chatter into people’s homes, Heyday is bringing the retail store experience into people’s living rooms, via text-based and video chat, effectively bridging the gap between online and offline channels in a COVID-influenced world.”
Part shopping assistant, part virtual support agent, Heyday’s hybrid customer messaging platform combines the power of Conversational AI with the human touch of sales and support teams to deliver a seamless and personalized customer experience at scale. Its integration with popular messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Google’s Business Messages (inside Google Maps), combined with product feeds from Salesforce, Shopify, Magento, Lightspeed and PrestaShop, makes it a complete and holistic solution for retailers who want to turn more site visitors into buyers, and transform customer service from a cost center into a revenue generator.
“The conversational space is red hot right now. Heyday is well positioned to become the new operating system of retail, connecting stay-at-home shoppers to in-store associates in order to improve customer satisfaction.” said Innovobot CEO Mario Venditti. “We’ve been impressed with the team’s ability to execute their strategic plan in 2020, and we’re happy to strengthen our partnership moving forward.”
Marie-Hélène Nolet, COO at Desjardins Capital added, “The pandemic has shown how important ecommerce is for the future of our economy. Heyday’s platform was two steps ahead and ready to help retailers pivot and adapt in the face of change. We’re proud to support Heyday’s mission to bring the in-store experience online through 1:1 conversations.”
Heyday is already trusted by hundreds of retailers and ecommerce merchants around the world, including Lacoste, Decathlon, Jack & Jones, DAVIDsTEA, Danone (Dannon), La Maison Simons, Dynamite Group, and more, and is a primary messaging partner of Google (Google’s Business Messages) and Shopify (Ping). The company plans to use this additional financing to expand its global presence, accelerate growth, and pave the way for its upcoming Series A round later this year.
About Heyday
Heyday is an AI-powered customer messaging platform that helps retailers optimize and monetize their customer experience at scale. Heyday was built to give AI superpowers to in-store associates and customer service agents by augmenting them with chatbots that act as the first line of defense across touchpoints and manage repetitive requests on their behalf, so that they can focus their energy on higher-value conversations. Our platform integrates with popular messaging apps, branded e-commerce websites and apps, product feeds, and more than 400 shipping providers to provide customers with an always-on virtual helping hand and bridge the gap between the online and offline retail experience.