Bolt’s former CEO is launching a new e-commerce startup

Maju Kuruvilla, who left the CEO role of controversial one-click checkout startup Bolt last year, is back. He’s launching his own startup, focused on a different problem for online shoppers: what he calls “check-in.” When you click on an ad for something like a t-shirt, the experience afterwards can feel a little clunky. The website you land on might not even have the product you clicked on to begin with. That causes many shoppers to bounce back, hurting conversion rates, Kuruvilla told TechCrunch. Kuruvilla wants to change that with AI. His new startup, Spangle AI, creates custom landing pages for shoppers based on what they searched for or clicked on. It sells to major retailers looking to better monetize their traffic and is powered by an AI model called ProductGPT that decodes customer interactions. Based in Seattle, Spangle AI raised a $6 million seed round last year, it told TechCrunch. Its investors include Seattle-based Madrona Ventures and Streamlined Ventures, which is in ... Read full article.