Sturdy: Portland Startup Secures $6M for AI Customer Analysis Platform
Deal News | Apr 01, 2025 | Voyager Capital LLC
Portland-based Sturdy.ai has raised $6 million in a seed funding round led by Voyager Capital, with participation from Fortson VC and Grotech Ventures. Sturdy's AI platform analyzes unstructured customer communications such as emails, support tickets, and calls to help businesses reduce churn and enhance revenue. Integrating with essential customer-facing systems like Gmail and Salesforce, Sturdy provides proactive signals to teams, enhancing revenue protection and expansion. Highlighting a successful use case, Syntrio utilized Sturdy's platform to address and rectify customer integration issues, safeguarding $1.2 million in renewals. With roots in other software companies, co-founders Steve Hazelton, Nathaniel Hazelton, and Joel Passen lead the firm towards innovation in understanding customer interactions. Voyager's General Partner Diane Fraiman has joined Sturdy's board as the company, nearing $1 million in annual recurring revenue, plans to expand its 15-member team, focusing on sales, engineering, product, and data sciences.
Sectors
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Venture Capital (VC)
Geography
- United States – Sturdy.ai is based in Portland, Oregon, and the lead investor Voyager Capital is based in Seattle, Washington.
Industry
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Sturdy.ai's platform uses AI to analyze customer interactions across multiple channels to provide insights on churn and revenue growth.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) – Sturdy.ai integrates with systems like Salesforce and Hubspot to improve customer interactions and minimize churn.
- Venture Capital (VC) – Sturdy's recent funding round was led by venture capital firms, including Voyager Capital and Fortson VC.
Financials
- $6 million – Seed funding raised by Sturdy.ai, led by Voyager Capital.
- Approaching $1 million – Sturdy.ai's annual recurring revenue.
- $1.2 million – The amount in at-risk renewals saved by Syntrio using Sturdy's platform.
Participants
| Name | Role | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sturdy.ai | Target | Company | A Portland-based startup using AI to analyze customer communications to minimize churn and unlock revenue growth. |
| Voyager Capital LLC | Investor | Company | A Seattle-based venture capital firm leading the $6 million seed funding round for Sturdy.ai. |
| Fortson VC | Investor | Company | Participated in the seed funding round for Sturdy.ai. |
| Grotech Ventures | Investor | Company | An existing investor that joined the seed funding round for Sturdy.ai. |
| Steve Hazelton | Co-founder and CEO | Person | Co-founder and CEO of Sturdy.ai, with a history of working at Newton Software and other tech firms. |
| Nathaniel Hazelton | Co-founder and CTO | Person | Co-founder and CTO of Sturdy.ai. |
| Joel Passen | Co-founder and CRO | Person | Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Sturdy.ai. |
| Diane Fraiman | Board Member | Person | Voyager Capital General Partner joining Sturdy.ai's board. |
| Syntrio | Customer | Company | A B2B software company that used Sturdy's platform to save $1.2 million in at-risk renewals. |