Adtech startup Cuttable, an automated content agency powered by AI, has closed a A$5.5 million seed funding round led by global investment firm Square Peg with participation from Rampersand and strategic angel investors.
Cuttable was co-founded by Sam Kroonenburg, a co-founder of A Cloud Guru, which sold for more than $2 billion in 2021; Jack White, co-founder of Sunday Gravy; and Ed Ring, ex-Swisse marketer and start-up founder.
The startup aims to make good ads easy for in-house employees, with no tech background, to create campaigns in the same time that it takes to write a brief.
Kroonenburg, is stepping into the role of co-CEO alongside his co-founder Jack White.
“Cuttable represents a new frontier in advertising, where technology and creativity converge to deliver unparalleled results for marketers and agencies,” Kroonenburg said.
“The opportunity at Cuttable was too good to pass up. I first came on board as a first investor, but as I got closer, I saw how much of a role automation and AI can play in advertising.”
Square Peg co-founder and partner Paul Bassat will join Cuttable’s board
“We're really excited to back Sam, Jack, and Ed in their vision to transform how brands tell their stories and acquire customers,” Bassat said.
"Over the last year, we have spent a lot of time with the Cuttable co-founders and were excited by their combination of deep domain expertise, tech acumen, grit and laser focus on using AI to fundamentally reshape advertising.
Taryn Pieterse, partner at Rampersand, said Cuttable can push what’s possible in traditional advertising.
“Cuttable offers a compelling new solution with the potential to transform how agencies and marketers advertise on digital platforms," said Pieterse.
"AI and precision technology continues to push the boundaries on what’s possible in traditional advertising, and the Cuttable team are at the forefront of this change, with their deep sector expertise and strong track record of creating cutting-edge solutions. We are thrilled to join Sam, Jack and Ed on this journey as they build the future of advertising.”
Jack White, Cuttable’s Co-CEO, said some advertising agencies might feel threatened by the use of artificial intelligence but says that certainly isn’t the case.
“Cuttable’s aim is to enable every agency and brand to return to the glory days of advertising, when they could both spend the time needed to craft the big brand idea," said White.
"We know the financial savings Cuttable creates for marketers can be reinvested into creating bigger brand opportunities
moving forward.
“Brands and agencies can now create their own digital advertising and content with Cuttable, and what would typically take weeks or months to create now takes just minutes."
Catch.com.au, looking for a way to talk to the millions of products they stock in a more personalised way for customers, is an early adopter of Cuttable.
“For Catch.com.au, working with Cuttable allowed us to successfully implement product and personalisation advertising that wasn’t possible beforehand. We were looking for a partner to help us more effectively connect with our customers and to share our wide product assortment and promotion offers,” said Alexandra Wright, head of content at Catch.com.au.
“We are constantly talking about having an equal weighting of creativity, data, and tech. Too much of one can mean the other is off balance, and working with a partner like Cuttable means we can get that mix right."
Other brands using Cuttable include Wesfarmers, OnePass, Medibank, Nando’s, Penfolds, Powershop and DiDi.
Cuttable has already started development on its next big AI-powered feature, tentatively titled “the brand brain” which will allow marketers to go from brief to an ad live in a few clicks.
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