In a market where artificial intelligence (AI) is a major selling point, Vendasta wants to reposition itself as an AI customer acquisition and engagement platform for resource-strapped small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
The Saskatoon, Sask.-based business-to-business software-as-a-service company has established a reputation for helping agency partners sell sales and marketing software solutions developed by Vendasta and third-party providers to SMBs through its platform and marketplace.
Now, Vendasta wants to give those businesses access to “enterprise-grade AI automation” with its revamped platform. This includes through new AI agents that it claims can handle different SMB customer acquisition and retention tasks autonomously to help clients grow without the need to expand their headcount.
“We use AI across the entire business, and we challenge everybody daily [to] find ways to use it.”
“This isn’t just another feature release—this is the biggest leap forward in Vendasta’s history,” Vendasta co-founder and CEO Brendan King claimed in a statement. “We’ve built an AI platform that gives every small business the same always-on customer engagement power that big brands have had for years.”
Vendasta’s AI agent roadmap is starting with a receptionist and assistant, and it has teased plans to make more so-called “AI employees” available over time. The company claims these agents are pre-trained, immediately ready to use, customizable based on customer needs, and trained on businesses’ data to ensure accuracy.
“A small business now can get jobs done without having a huge amount of setup or a huge amount of cost … and so we’re pretty proud of that,” King told BetaKit in an interview.
King argued that Vendasta also needs to adopt AI to improve its own operational efficiency and productivity. “We know that we have to lead the way there … We use AI across the entire business, and we challenge everybody daily [to] find ways to use it.”
The CEO noted that the company has been deploying AI internally in areas where Vendasta is selling the tech to clients, such as sales, billing, fulfillment, and support.
“We’re drinking our own champagne,” King added, citing human resources and marketing as examples of departments where the firm has realized some operational benefits thanks to AI.
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Many tech companies have taken similar steps, in some cases resulting in layoffs. Vancouver’s Klue, Kitchener-Waterloo’s OpenText, Toronto’s BenchSci are just three recent examples of Canadian software firms that have shed staff in a push to adopt AI.
Vendasta director of brand and experience Nykea Behiel claimed to BetaKit that the company has not conducted layoffs related to AI or used the tech to replace roles, but noted that Vendasta does want employees “with the skills to lead in an AI-first world.”
“Our strategy is to elevate human potential through AI, not replace it,” Behiel said. “AI enables us to streamline some functions, but it also allows our people to do more than ever before.”
Vendasta has raised more than $192 million CAD to date from backers like Foundry Group, Battery Ventures, BDC Capital, the Canadian Business Growth Fund, BMO, Luxor Capital, Lugard Road, Nicola Wealth, and Vanedge.
The software firm nearly went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic amid a wave of new Canadian tech initial public offerings (IPOs). After filing for an IPO, cooling demand led Vendasta to put those plans on hold and continue building as a private company.
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In 2021, Vendasta closed a $119.5-million Series D and embarked on a two-year acquisition spree that included Broadly, CalendarHero, Matchcraft, and Yesware.
As part of a push to integrate these companies and become profitable, Vendasta made some layoffs in 2023. That year, Vendasta also secured $20 million in Series E financing to fuel additional acquisitions, which it has not yet made.
Vendasta CMO Sanjay Manchada told BetaKit that Vendasta’s focus in the past year has been on continuing to develop its own software platform and products, investing in AI, building up its C-suite, and expanding globally.
Manchada joined Vendasta as chief marketing officer (CMO) last fall, replacing co-founder Jeff Tomlin. Around the same time, Vendasta became cash flow positive. “That was a big goal for us,” Manchada said.
Manchada previously held senior marketing leadership roles at Microsoft, Box, and Chargebee. According to Behiel, Tomlin helped bring Manchada on to support the company’s next phase of growth, and remains actively involved with Vendasta in a strategic capacity.
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In April, Vendasta brought on former TaskRabbit, Varo, and Mixhalo chief product officer (CPO) John Vars as its permanent CPO. Before Vars’ appointment, veteran Vendasta staff engineer Jesse Redl guided the firm’s product, spending nearly two years as interim CPO.
As Vendasta rounds out its leadership team, next week, Behiel said the company is announcing the appointment of Mark Brodahl—who has served as chief revenue officer (CRO) at SpotOn and held senior sales leadership roles with Groupon and Angi—as its permanent CRO. Brodahl is stepping in for Vendasta interim CRO Jacqueline Wandzura.
“We are deliberately surrounding ourselves with proven leaders who have successfully scaled global businesses because we are determined to do the same,” Behiel said.
Today, according to the company’s website, Vendasta serves 8.2 million SMBs via more than 66,000 channel partners (such as agencies, managed service providers, franchises, and media companies). Behiel declined to share the now 600-person company’s exact sales to BetaKit, but claimed the firm is generating north of $100 million CAD in annual recurring revenue.
Manchada said the steps Vendasta has taken in the past few years have been geared at least in part towards setting the firm up for “a meaningful exit,” but he emphasized that Vendasta is “not actively looking” at a potential sale or IPO at this point.
Feature image courtesy Vendasta.