Amplitude buys Command AI to bolster its app engagement offerings

Amplitude, a publicly traded company that makes digital analytics software, has acquired Command AI, an app user engagement startup formerly known as CommandBar.

Most of Command AI’s 30-person, San Francisco-based team will be joining Amplitude. Command AI’s co-founder and CEO James Evans wouldn’t reveal the terms of the deal, but said candidly that an acquisition wasn’t something he’d been planning on.

“Our growth was great and we had plenty of runway,” Evans told TechCrunch. “We weren’t out shopping ourselves or anything. But when Amplitude reached out a little while ago — this summer — we got really excited about the combination and became convinced that we could grow faster and reach more users together.”

A source tells TechCrunch that the deal was worth “north of $45 million.”

Evans started Command AI in 2021 as a way for developers to easily integrate search functionality into their web apps. Together with co-founders Richard Freling and Vinay Ayyala, he built Command AI’s first product: an in-app search bar that provided personalized results, shortcuts, and the ability to highlight new app enhancements.

Over the years, Command AI’s product portfolio expanded to include a chatbot and AI Co-Browsing, which walks a user through in-app features by effectively taking control of their mouse. A more recent tool in development, Nudge Autopilot, shows “nudges” (e.g. reminders to try out certain app features) to users automatically based on metrics.

Twenty-five million end-users interact with Command AI’s products on a regular basis through apps built by clients like HashiCorp, Gusto, Yotpo, and LaunchDarkly, Evans said. Before the Amplitude buyout, Command AI managed to raise $23.8 million from backers including Insight Partners, Itai Tsiddon, and Thrive Capital.

So how does Command AI’s technology fit into Amplitude’s product roadmap? Amplitude CEO and co-founder Spenser Skates says the startup will enable Amplitude to offer “personalized user assistance” via in-product tours, onboarding experiences, and more.

Specifically, early next year, Command AI will launch checklists and guides for Amplitude, which will let customers create app and website action plans as well as interactive product tours. Announcements, another Command AI-powered capability heading to Amplitude, will allow customers to set up “smart triggers” in apps for things like updates and special offers.

Evans sees the integrations as a natural evolution for Command AI, which has offered connectors to Amplitude for some time.

“There’s a really tight loop between tools that help you understand user behavior — Amplitude — and tools that help you influence user behavior — us,” he said. “Imagine you identify a user segment that seems to not be digging your product. Well, naturally, you then might want to ask those users a question with a survey, or try to steer them to some feature they might care about, and then aggregate that feedback or see the impact of that change. We’ve always solved that connection with integration, but being on the same team is going to allow us to build a much tighter feedback loop.”

Evans will become director of product at Amplitude once the deal closes, while Ayyala will become engineering director. They’ll both oversee Amplitude’s new Command AI product org, which will continue to serve current Command AI customers through the end of the year.

Command AI is Amplitude’s third acquisition since its founding a decade ago. In 2020, Amplitude bought ClearBrain, a predictive analytics company, and in 2021, it purchased data pipeline firm Iteratively.

Amplitude claims to have more than 2,700 paying customers, including 26 of the Fortune 100.

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