Their move to make Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce et. They’ve snapped up Clay, a personal customer relationship management (CRM) application that rolled out in 2021. The deal, which was recently announced, is intended to add to Automattic’s portfolio of digital tools by bringing Clay’s identity management technology into the fold.
• Clay provides users with a creative new solution for tracking their circles of friends and colleagues. The app lets users personally monitor anyone they know, including those they haven’t met yet, and follow their every move. Clay aggregates data from public networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, WhatsApp and X. It further connects to your address books and calendars to provide an all-around perspective on your relationships.
The app includes an AI personal assistant called Nexus. This powerful tool both improves public engagement and empowers users by allowing them to ask real-life questions of their networks. Users are able to inquire about connections already present at a given company. They can find future colleagues as they scout new cities, such as New York. Having just topped their 150 millionth relationship managed, Clay has established itself as a contender in the personal CRM space.
Clay provides this on-ramp at no cost to the user with a freemium model to draw users in. Individual plans begin at $10 per month, and team plans are $40 per seat per month. Prior to its buyout, the company had raised more than $9 million in venture capital. High-profile investors, including General Catalyst and Forerunner Ventures supported this game-changing funding round.
After the merger, Clay’s founders Zachary Hamed and Matthew Achariam as well as their team will make the transition to Automattic. Neither the singer nor the label have disclosed the financial terms of the deal.
“One of their main ethos is this idea of open source, and the idea that that’s one of the most powerful forces of our lifetimes. And we tend to agree.” – Matthew Achariam
He further articulated the alignment of Clay’s mission with Automattic’s vision:
“That’s always been our North Star, and all the features […] reinforce that by bringing these different aspects of relationship management into one platform and one tool.” – Matthew Achariam
Zachary Hamed shared his optimism regarding the longevity of the project within Automattic’s ecosystem:
“We are very excited about the longevity aspect of this. We believe that this should be something that exists beyond, like, any one company.” – Zachary Hamed
Clay’s long-term vision, in alignment with Automattic, is for full integration with Beeper. His hope is to build a strong identity layer that further ties these tools together. This user-first move toward bringing all IRL relationship management tools together into the same platform speaks to a larger service-oriented mission.
The acquisition makes a lot of sense as a strategic play for Automattic. It seeks to extend its core platform and bring new types of value-added solutions that enable its users to better connect their personal and business lives. Automattic has broader plans to integrate Clay’s capabilities into its existing tools. This acquisition will further strengthen their competitive position in the crowded independent digital relationship management space.
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