The Columbus agency behind In-N-Out's growth run wants to build brands people love - and prove it with numbers. Its bet: creativity and data belong on the same team.
Akkio is a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based AI company that builds an AI-native platform for media agencies and data providers. It lets non-technical teams chat with their data, build no-code predictive models, segment audiences, simulate media plans, and generate campaign reports in minutes rather than weeks. Founded in 2019, Akkio started as a no-code machine learning tool for small businesses and has since refocused on automating the full campaign workflow for the advertising and media industry, with customers including Horizon Media, Havas, and LG Ad Solutions.
Scalify is an AI-powered ad management and automation platform that lets businesses launch, analyze, optimize, and scale Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Google ads from a single dashboard. Built originally as a Shopify app for e-commerce and dropshipping store owners, it automates the grunt work of media buying - building hundreds of custom and lookalike audiences in seconds, generating ad creatives and copy with AI, running 24/7 rule-based optimization, and shifting budget toward winning ads - so smaller brands can advertise like they have an in-house agency without the agency price tag.
Improvado is an AI-powered marketing analytics and intelligence platform built for enterprises and agencies. Founded in 2015, it connects 1,000+ data sources - from Google Ads and Meta to Salesforce and Shopify - and pipes everything into a unified data layer that feeds an AI agent capable of generating dashboards, monitoring data quality, running A/B tests, and delivering cross-channel marketing insights in natural language. The platform covers the full analytics stack: ETL/ELT pipelines, data governance, AI-native BI dashboards, and agentic execution - all in one environment. Backed by $34M in funding from Updata Partners, Bullpen Capital, and Nexus Venture Partners, Improvado serves Fortune 500 companies and global agencies including ASUS, Eicoff, and Booyah Advertising.