Former Amazon Leaders Raise $15M for AI Commerce Startup

Spangle AI, a fast-growing Seattle startup founded by former Amazon executives, has secured $15 million in Series A funding, pushing the company’s valuation to $100 million. The investment round was led by NewRoad Capital Partners, highlighting growing investor confidence in AI-powered commerce technology.

Launched just last year, Spangle AI is building a new way for online retailers to connect with shoppers. Instead of showing every visitor the same storefront, the platform uses generative AI to instantly create personalized shopping experiences based on where customers come from and what they are trying to do.

For example, someone arriving from an Instagram advertisement may see a storefront that feels similar to the social media browsing experience they just left. Likewise, a shopper searching for dresses could be presented with related products for upcoming events, helping them discover complementary items without manually searching through a retailer’s website.

The company believes traditional e-commerce websites are becoming outdated as more shoppers discover products through social media, AI search engines, and even autonomous AI shopping assistants. Rather than relying on static product pages, Spangle aims to make online shopping more responsive to customer intent.

According to CEO Maju Kuruvilla, websites were originally designed for visitors who arrived directly at a brand’s homepage. Today’s customer journey is very different.

“The problem is that websites are not designed to continue a journey that originated somewhere else,” Kuruvilla explained.

Spangle’s platform takes a different approach from traditional personalization systems. Instead of depending on customer identities or browsing history, it focuses on real-time context and shopping intent. Whether a visitor is simply exploring products, comparing options, or ready to complete a purchase, the AI adjusts the storefront by changing product recommendations, layouts, and content.

To deliver these experiences, the platform is trained using a retailer’s product catalog, brand guidelines, and performance data, allowing it to generate customized storefronts without relying on historical user profiles.

The technology has already attracted several well-known fashion and retail brands, including REVOLVE, Steve Madden, and Alexander Wang. According to Spangle, retailers using its platform have reported conversion rate improvements of up to 50%, along with stronger returns on advertising spending.

Although the company has chosen not to reveal revenue figures, it says it has signed nine enterprise customers during its first nine months in business.

Kuruvilla believes retailers have become increasingly effective at attracting traffic through digital advertising. However, converting those visitors into paying customers remains one of the industry’s biggest challenges.

“Conversion from all this traffic that’s discovered outside is a huge problem for all these brands,” he said.

Spangle is positioning itself within the rapidly expanding agentic commerce market, where AI systems actively help shape shopping experiences. This emerging category could reshape competition for established e-commerce experience providers and personalization platforms such as Adobe and Mastercard Dynamic Yield.

Kuruvilla brings significant industry experience to the startup. Before launching Spangle, he served as CEO and CTO of Bolt, the one-click checkout startup that once achieved an $11 billion valuation. Earlier in his career, he also held leadership positions at Amazon, Microsoft, Honeywell, and Milliman.

Spangle’s founding team also includes experienced retail technology leaders. Co-founder and CTO Fei Wang previously served as CTO at Saks OFF 5TH and spent nearly 12 years as an engineer at Amazon. Head of Engineering Yufeng Gou also worked at Saks OFF 5TH, while COO Karen Moon is a longtime investor and former CEO of Trendalytics.

The latest investment round also included participation from existing investor Madrona, along with DNX Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, and several angel investors.

Last year, Spangle raised a $6 million seed round, bringing its total funding to $21 million. Despite employing fewer than 10 people, the startup is quickly gaining momentum as retailers increasingly explore AI-powered shopping experiences.

The funding comes at a time when competition in AI-driven commerce continues to intensify. Major technology companies are expanding their own AI shopping capabilities, with Microsoft recently introducing Copilot Checkout, joining rivals including Amazon, Google, and OpenAI in the race to reshape the future of online shopping.

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