Amsterdam-based Billy Grace, an AI marketing startup, has secured €3M in investment capital from Fortino Capital and several angel investors.
Fortino Capital is a European investment firm focused on rapidly growing B2B software solutions. It manages two private equity growth funds and two venture capital funds.
Fortino supports ambitious entrepreneurs across Europe with offices in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany
Wouter Goossens, Investment Director at Fortino Capital says, “Billy Grace has a clear vision: AI helps marketers free up time for the tasks where human creativity makes the difference. That vision resonates with traditional companies, marketing agencies, and young startups alike. We’re only just beginning to explore AI’s potential. In a few years, every marketing team will be using AI to make their marketing smarter. We look forward to working with Billy Grace to help shape that future.”
700% growth
This investment comes as the company reports 700% growth in 2024.
The Dutch company will use the funds to continue scaling up its operations within the Netherlands and abroad.
The company’s marketing platform has already gained a customer base throughout the US, Germany, the UK, and Sweden, and is currently used by companies including Otrium, Matt Sleeps, Stanley, Intratuin, and DPG Media Group.
Billy Grace: AI marketing startup
Robin Friend, Mitch Voskuilen, and Tjadi Peeters founded Billy Grace in 2021 after struggling with digital ad spending optimisation.
Mitch Voskuilen, CEO and founder of Billy Grace, says, “A lot of marketers and marketing agencies are dealing with the same challenge: they use more and more marketing channels, which means more and more data to manage. Each channel has its reporting tools, which makes it hard to maintain a complete overview. Companies also have a hard time calculating the RoI on their marketing spend, so a lot of times, they lack a clear view of which channels are driving growth. AI solves these problems by showing exactly which marketing spend delivers results.”
The platform lets companies collaborate with self-learning algorithms (AI), where marketers can better track, attribute, analyse, automate, and optimise online marketing within and across channels.
In 2023, it reported 800 per cent growth, followed by 700 per cent growth in 2024.
The startup is now the market leader in the Netherlands and active in the US, Germany, the UK, and Sweden.
Companies such as Intratuin, Holland Casino, Dekbed-Discounter, Otrium, DPG Media Group, Stanley, Matt Sleeps, Bouwmaat, Marie Stella Maris, The Sting, Cotton Club, Costes and Soldaat van Oranje use Billy Grace.
Voskuilen says, “We want to keep this momentum going. Our goal is to capture a larger share of the UK, US, and German markets. The big advantage is that, as a SaaS company, we can scale more easily. Plus, marketers all over the world face the same kinds of challenges, which we address. We’re currently growing so fast that we’re constantly looking for new team members to help us keep up with demand.”
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