When George Avetisov led the cybersecurity startup HYPR as CEO, he found sales teams frequently tapping into other departments to answer customer queries or complete technical forms.
“Most questions posed to them required them to pull in product personnel or sales engineers,” Avetisov said, highlighting the need for a simpler solution for knowledge automation in sales.
In response, Avetisov launched 1up in 2022. The AI-powered knowledge automation platform assists sales teams in accessing internal company data to answer product or technical queries, making RFP execution and technical questionnaire filling smoother.
Launched publicly in January 2024, 1up boasts nearly 100 customers, ranging from startups to large enterprises like WalkMe and Deliveroo. Interestingly, a significant number of these customer leads have been acquired through an unusual marketing tactic—memes.
“We operate one of the largest sales meme libraries and acquire millions of impressions on LinkedIn,” Avetisov revealed, stating that around one third of their leads are meme-sourced.
Now, 1up is publicizing a $5 million funding round led by Upfront Ventures, RRE Ventures, 8-Bit Capital, and individuals like Friendster’s founder, Jonathan Adams. Upfront general partner Kobie Fuller highly praised Avetisov’s commitment to the project and his detailed understanding of a specific pain point.
Since ChatGPT’s 2022 release, AI startups serving sales departments have surged. Similarly, knowledge centers have gained momentum. Yet, Avetisov believes 1up’s service, tackling a specific issue, sets it apart from competitors.
For 1up, scaling out the sales team and introducing feature upgrades are the next steps, underlining Avetisov’s strong belief in enhancing knowledge management tools for sales teams.
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