Direqt, a Seattle, WA-based provider of a AI chatbot platform built exclusively for publishers, raised $4.5M in funding.
The round saw participation from Todd Parker, Peter Callahan, Ron Antevy, and Dave Walsh.
The company intends to use the funds to expand its customizable AI chatbot solution.
Led by CEO John Duffy, Direqt provides an AI chatbot platform built exclusively for publishers. Used by media companies including ESPN, The Independent, The Sun, Cosmopolitan and more, it enables chatbot publishers to create, grow, and monetize conversational audiences anywhere they are. Publishers leverage its platform to train their chatbots exclusively on their own content to deliver experiences in their brand voice. Over 75 publishers are already leveraging Direqt to empower their chat experience and reach over 260 million users through Direqt’s chatbot discovery network.
Direqt’s chatbot platform unlocks key benefits for publishers, including:
- Content Control: Publishers can train their custom AI chatbot on their unique content and refine personality and brand voice using the Direqt platform.
- Configurable AI: Publishers can determine which AI features are enabled for their chatbot, ensuring that all publishers can leverage chat in a way that is aligned with their overall AI strategy.
- Deepen Engagement: Chatbots can be embedded on publisher’s websites to increase time-on-site, pageviews, and overall reader engagement.
- Reach New Audiences: Chatbots can be distributed across multiple platforms through Direqt’s chatbot distribution network, including social media apps and messaging apps reaching hundreds of millions of previously unreachable audiences.
- Unlock New Revenue: Publishers on Direqt can leverage Direqt’s In-Chat Advertising Platform to monetize their chatbot audience with relevant, privacy-first advertising served natively in-chat.
- First-Party Data: Publishers have exclusive access to the data collected and shared within the chatbot.
- Multiple Vendors: Direqt’s platform is adaptable and utilizes multiple leading LLMs, so publishers are never locked into a single model provider. Publishers can configure their conversation engine of choice in the Direqt platform.
- User Experience/Low Cost: Direqt allows publishers to build a chatbot in minutes at low cost.