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§ Private Profile · Seattle, WA, USA
AI-powered self-service customer support platform providing contextual answers for e-commerce and SaaS websites, reducing tickets.
Seattle-based AnswerDash provides an artificial intelligence-powered self-service customer support platform that embeds contextual answers directly into corporate websites and mobile applications. The software predicts user questions based on specific page content and seamlessly integrates with existing enterprise ticketing systems to reduce manual customer support inquiries. Operating on a tiered business-to-business software subscription model, the company serves enterprise clients across the telecommunications, retail footwear, and automotive sectors, including recognizable consumer brands such as T-Mobile, Dr. Martens, and TrueCar. Prior to its June 2020 acquisition by web personalization company CloudEngage, the startup employed approximately 12 people in Washington and raised over $7 million in total venture funding from backers including Voyager Capital. Originally launched as a university spin-out named Qazzow, the software company was founded in 2012 by Jacob Wobbrock, Amy Ko, and Parmit Chilana.
AnswerDash has raised $8.5M across 3 funding rounds.
AnswerDash has raised $8.5M in total across 3 funding rounds.
AnswerDash has raised $8.5M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $3.0M Seed in September 2015.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2015 | $3M Seed | Voyager Capital | Incisive Ventures, Pioneer Square Labs, Staenberg Venture Partners, Howard Schultz | Announced |
| Oct 8, 2014 | $2.5M Venture Round | — | — | Announced |
| Dec 1, 2013 | $3M Series A | Voyager Capital, Thong LE | Incisive Ventures, Pioneer Square Labs, Staenberg Venture Partners, Howard Schultz, Geoff Entress, Summit Capital, W Fund | Announced |
AnswerDash has raised $8.5M in total across 3 funding rounds.
AnswerDash's investors include Voyager Capital, Incisive Ventures, Pioneer Square Labs, Staenberg Venture Partners, Howard Schultz, Thong Le, Geoff Entress, Summit Capital, W Fund.
AnswerDash is a B2B SaaS company providing contextual self-service customer support for e-commerce websites and mobile apps, using machine learning and natural language processing to deliver instant, point-and-click answers based on user context.[1][2][3] It serves e-commerce businesses and web/app owners by solving the problem of fragmented support—eliminating separate FAQs or help pages—reducing human support needs by 30-50%, boosting sales conversions by 10-30%, and improving customer satisfaction through predictive Q&A that leverages existing knowledge bases.[1][3][5] Pricing starts at $169/month with custom quotes, and it integrates with tools like Zendesk, Salesforce Desk, Freshdesk, and live chat apps such as LiveChat.[2][3]
AnswerDash originated as a 2012 spin-off from the University of Washington's Information School in Seattle, born from human-computer interaction research in Parmit Chilana's dissertation, which revealed up to 95% of user questions stem from on-page triggers needing contextual help.[1][6] Early leadership included Jake Wobbrock as CEO and Amy J. Ko as CTO, with the company initially operating as Qazzow before rebranding; it raised $2.54 million in equity by 2015 and was named a Cool Vendor in Gartner's 2015 CRM report.[1][3] Pivotal traction came from its university-backed tech, leading to rapid database-building capabilities in days and a focus on e-commerce self-service.[1][4]
AnswerDash rides the wave of self-service customer experience trends in e-commerce, where users demand instant, frictionless help amid rising online shopping—its timing aligns with mobile/web app proliferation and AI-driven personalization post-2010s.[1][2][4] Market forces like support cost pressures and conversion optimization favor it, as traditional FAQs fail 95% of contextual queries; it influences the ecosystem by pioneering "contextual point-and-click" tech, inspiring integrations and reducing churn via data-driven improvements.[1][3][5] Acquired by CloudEngage in June 2020, it amplifies this in a maturing SaaS support market emphasizing predictive analytics over reactive tickets.[1]
Post-acquisition, AnswerDash likely evolves within CloudEngage toward deeper AI enhancements, expanding multi-channel support amid growing demand for hyper-personalized e-commerce experiences driven by gen-AI trends.[1][2] Rising self-service adoption, fueled by cost efficiencies and mobile-first users, positions it for sustained growth, potentially influencing broader CX platforms with advanced behavior prediction. As e-commerce scales globally, its university-rooted innovation cements AnswerDash as a foundational player in transforming support from reactive to proactive, echoing its origin in solving universal web frustration.[1][3][6]