# Romain Lapeyre

> Romain Lapeyre is the Co-founder and CEO of Gorgias, the AI-powered customer experience platform built for ecommerce brands. Founded in Paris in 2015 with co-founder Alex Plugaru and later relocated to San Francisco, Gorgias has grown to serve 16,400+ merchants including Glossier, Steve Madden, and Dollar Shave Club, reaching $80M ARR with roughly 520 employees and $103M+ in total funding. Lapeyre studied at HEC Paris and has built Gorgias using a data-driven, partner-led growth model - scaling to 10,000+ customers without traditional cold calling.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Gorgias
- **Organizations:** Gorgias
- **Nationality:** French
- **Education:** Secondary / College, Collège Stanislas, Masters in Management, specialization in Entrepreneurship, HEC Paris, Exchange Program - Business Administration and Management, Fudan University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Gorgias and scaled it to $80M ARR with 16,400+ ecommerce merchants, Raised $103M+ total funding including Series C at $710M valuation, Built customer acquisition engine reaching 10,000+ SMB customers using data alone, without cold calling

## Career timeline

- **2009-2011** — Attended Collège Stanislas in Montreal, Quebec
- **2011-2015** — Studied Masters in Management (Entrepreneurship track) at HEC Paris; served as Treasurer of HEC's debating society; interviewed executives including Carlos Ghosn and Dan Serfaty
- **2012** — Exchange program at Fudan University, Shanghai
- **2013-2014** — Internship at Scalr in San Francisco - sales, account management, pricing strategy, business development, cloud computing
- **2014** — Internship at Work4 in Paris and San Francisco - worked with senior product manager and development team
- **2015** — Co-founded Gorgias with Alex Plugaru in Paris; raised seed round
- **2016** — Relocated Gorgias headquarters to San Francisco; published Shopify integration comparison piece on Medium
- **2019** — SaaStr Annual top-rated session on using data to acquire first 1,000 customers; interviewed on SaaStr Podcast (Ep. 269)
- **2020** — Gorgias achieves 300% sales growth; 4,500+ stores supported; raised $25M Series B (Dec 2020) at $300M+ valuation; participated in Shogun's $35M Series B as angel investor
- **2021** — Featured in Alven investor interview; SaaStr Podcast appearances on SMB ecommerce and partnership growth strategies
- **2022** — Raised $30M Series C at $710M valuation (August 2022); Flex Capital operator interview; SaaStr Podcast on acquiring 10,000 SMB customers from data
- **2023** — Scaled Gorgias past $72M ARR; launched Gorgias AI Agent powered by GPT-4o; continued expansion of merchant base
- **2024** — Raised $29M Series C-2 (May 2024); Gorgias reaches $80M ARR and 16,400+ merchants; launched first user conference CX Connect; announced AI handling 60%+ of customer support
- **2025** — Gorgias AI Agent 2.0 launched focusing on pre-purchase customer journey; Gorgias Connect LA 2025 conference; AfterShip partnership; AI now handles 31% of all customer interactions for ecommerce brands

## Achievements

- Co-founded Gorgias and scaled it to $80M ARR with 16,400+ ecommerce merchants
- Raised $103M+ total funding including Series C at $710M valuation
- Built customer acquisition engine reaching 10,000+ SMB customers using data alone, without cold calling
- One of SaaStr Annual 2019's top 10 most highly-rated sessions
- Customers include Glossier, Steve Madden, Dollar Shave Club, BruMate, and Fjallraven
- Pioneer of AI-driven customer support automation in ecommerce, achieving 60%+ automation rates
- Angel investor in companies including Polar Analytics, Shogun, and Strapi
- Secured Shopify as a strategic investor and joined Shopify Plus Technology Partner Program
- Grew Gorgias to 520+ employees across offices in San Francisco, New York, Paris, and Belgrade

## Latest updates

- **2025-02** — Gorgias released 'The State of Conversational Commerce in 2026 Trends Report' showing AI handles 31% of customer interactions for ecommerce brands
- **2025-01** — Gorgias AI Agent 2.0 launched with focus on pre-purchase customer journey, expanding beyond reactive support
- **2024-08** — AfterShip and Gorgias announced integration partnership for advanced ecommerce customer support
- **2024-06** — Gorgias hosted first user conference, CX Connect, highlighting AI's role in transforming ecommerce customer experience
- **2024-05** — Gorgias raised $29M Series C-2 funding at $530M valuation to accelerate AI-powered CX development

## Links

- Website: https://gorgias.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/romainlapeyre
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/Romain_Lapeyre

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/romain-lapeyre
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-23