Pypestream Raises $2M To Help Businesses Talk To Their Customers

Pypestream, a new startup from AdGenesis/Genesis Media co-founder Richard Smullen, is announcing that it has raised $2 million in seed funding.

The round was led by Jonah Goodhart, co-founder of Moat and of early-stage investment firm WGI Group. Goodhart told me that Pypestream is trying to solve a big problem: “The call center as a model is absolutely broken.” In other words, think about all the times you’ve tried to call customer service, and how often it’s an “extraordinarily frustrating” experience.

How does Smullen’s startup solve that? Well, it doesn’t officially launch for another week or so, and he wasn’t ready to share many details. The aim, at least, is to create an experience that’s closer to messaging with your friend than it is to a traditional customer service call, while still providing the enterprise features that businesses want.

Smullen also said that he wants Pypestream to become a platform “where businesses want to be found” — in fact, you can already reserve your company name now.

But what, exactly, are you reserving? Well, stay tuned for the launch. In the meantime, I guess I should remind you that Smullen’s previous company AdGenesis was a video advertising startup that merged with Castle Vision Media to form an ad tech company called (drumroll) Genesis Media.

And here are the other investors:

  • Mike Walrath – investor at WGI and chairman of Yext
  • Tim Calveley – CEO Butterfield Fulcrum
  • Rick Braddock – former Priceline CEO
  • Trevor Harris – Columbia MBA Professor and former Morgan Stanley
  • SouthWinston – Smullen’s investment fund
  • Mike LaJoie – former Time Warner Cable CTO
  • Jim Ellsworth – former managing director of AIG Real Estate
  • Rick Sirvaitis – former head of Turner sales and worked with Google TV