Inbound sales has always had one golden rule: the first vendor to respond usually wins. Yet, in 2025, most businesses still lose revenue to slow responses, bottlenecked reps, and clunky workflows. Enter Spara, a new enterprise platform betting that AI can solve what sales teams have failed to crack—instant speed-to-lead.

Launched today with $15 million in seed funding, Spara provides voice, email, and chat AI agents designed to engage, qualify, and convert leads within seconds. The round was led by Radical Ventures and Inspired Capital, with backing from XYZ Ventures, FJ Labs, Remarkable Ventures, and angels from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Databricks, and G2. The funding will fuel product development, team growth, and deeper multimodal AI integrations.

Why It Matters

Buyers of high-consideration products—whether B2B software or luxury consumer goods—rarely wait around. Studies show conversion rates jump 10x when vendors respond within a minute, but crash after five. Traditional inbound systems, reliant on human scheduling and generic chatbots, simply can’t keep pace.

That’s the gap Spara wants to close. “Outbound is oversaturated to the point of irrelevance, while inbound systems haven’t evolved to meet modern buyer expectations,” said David Walker, co-founder and CEO of Spara. “Companies spend millions driving traffic to their websites, but most leads leave without ever getting their questions answered. Spara closes that gap by capturing revenue the moment it shows up.”

How Spara Works

Unlike static chatbots or old-school telephony, Spara builds a custom AI model for each company’s sales funnel. That means responses aren’t just generic—they’re trained on the customer’s sales motion, brand voice, and qualification criteria. The platform can:

• Engage leads instantly across chat, voice, or email.

• Qualify prospects automatically based on company-specific rules.

• Book meetings in real time, syncing directly into sales calendars.

• Adapt tone and timing to fit buyer context, not just canned scripts.

Under the hood, Spara runs on enterprise-grade AI models fine-tuned for safety, precision, and scale.

Proof in the Pipeline

Early adopters include Rho, MarketMan, Jericho Security, and TinyMCE. At Rho, Spara booked over 90 meetings in 30 days, converting 50% of qualified traffic with an average chat-to-meeting time under three minutes.

“With Spara, we’re engaging buyers the moment they show interest—often within seconds,” said Tommy McNulty, CRO at Rho. “That kind of speed has dramatically improved conversion rates and freed up our reps to focus on closing.”

The Bigger Picture

The inbound sales stack hasn’t evolved much in a decade. While outbound prospecting has been flooded with automation tools, inbound engagement remains manual and inconsistent. Spara is betting that its “buyer-first immediacy” model will become the new standard.

Investors seem to agree. “The future of sales isn’t more automation for sellers—it’s more immediacy and clarity for buyers,” said Molly Welch, Partner at Radical Ventures.

If Spara delivers on its promise, it won’t just modernize inbound—it could redefine the first five minutes of every sales cycle, the window where deals are won or lost.

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IFA 2025 wasn’t just a showcase of shiny gadgets—it was a stage for how deeply robotics, AI, and smart systems are weaving into daily life. Among the futurism, one name with roots stretching back nearly a century stole the spotlight: Morphy Richards.

The 89-year-old British appliance maker proved it’s far from old-fashioned, unveiling a new lineup that blends classic craftsmanship with forward-looking design and intelligent functionality. The theme: everyday living, reimagined through smart, sustainable comfort.

Award-Winning Everyday Essentials

Morphy Richards’ booth delivered more than nostalgia; it delivered headlines. The Fusion Kettle and Toaster Set bagged the coveted Best of IFA award from Gadget Flow, signaling that the brand’s modern aesthetic isn’t just marketing spin.

But the real crowd magnet was the Chill Zone, where the InfuseChill Flavoured Ice Maker wowed visitors with customizable flavored cubes—think lime-infused cubes for your water or strawberry for your mocktail. Its sibling, the MixChill 3-in-1 Ice Maker, turned heads for its triple talent: rapid ice production, crushing, and even juicing.

Coffee loyalists weren’t ignored. The Fully Automatic Coffee Machine drew strong retailer interest with its pro-level brewing packaged for home use. And on the climate side, the S1 Pro and Ultra air treatment units impressed with distinctive design, smart sensors, and eco-friendly efficiency—timely products as Europe continues to face extreme heatwaves.

Market Context: Heatwaves and Growth Potential

Morphy Richards didn’t miss the opportunity to tie its products to broader market trends. In a Bloomberg segment on Europe’s heatwave, the company positioned its climate-control appliances as not just nice-to-have luxuries, but long-term necessities—reinforcing predictions of growth in the European air conditioning and air treatment market.

That framing matters. In a space crowded with startups promising futuristic “air wellness,” Morphy Richards brings two advantages: brand trust built over decades and a sustainability-first pitch tuned to European regulation and consumer sentiment.

Partnerships and Global Momentum

IFA wasn’t just about wowing consumers—it was about deal-making. Key accounts showed strong interest in the new product lines, while prospective partners circled, drawn by the brand’s global strength. The event gave Morphy Richards a platform to reinforce confidence in its growth strategy and lay groundwork for new distribution channels.

The media impact was broad, too. Coverage spanned outlets like TrendHunter, The Globe and Mail, and La Vanguardia, while influencers from Europe and Asia amplified the brand’s reach. Notably, creators like Blin Othman and Jan Březina highlighted the mix of design and practicality, underscoring how the brand resonates beyond trade shows.

Old Brand, New Edge

Morphy Richards may be pushing 90, but its latest IFA showing proves it’s not just keeping up—it’s positioning itself as a global innovator in smart living. By aligning design heritage with modern sustainability and intelligent features, the company is making a play not just for nostalgia, but for relevance in a market that increasingly expects its appliances to be as connected and adaptive as its phones.

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Adverity, the marketing data platform best known for helping brands unify and manage data pipelines, has unveiled Adverity Intelligence, its first dedicated AI-powered analytics layer. The move expands the company’s role from data management into actionable intelligence—promising marketers faster, more collaborative insights at scale.

The new suite leans on AI and model context protocols (MCP) to close a persistent industry gap: marketing teams drowning in static dashboards but lacking real-time guidance. Adverity Intelligence introduces three core capabilities:

• Data Conversations – conversational and agentic AI that lets teams query data dynamically and surface insights in seconds.

• Notebooks – a collaborative workspace that turns insights into structured narratives teams can refine and share.

• Intelligent Agents – automated assistants that schedule insights or trigger workflows. The first, an MMM Agent for Google Meridian, automates the complex process of preparing data for marketing mix modeling.

“Adverity Intelligence isn’t just about AI—we’re scaling how different tools, agents, and teams work together to accelerate impact,” said Lee McCance, CPO at Adverity.

CEO Alexander Igelsböck framed the launch as an answer to long-standing CMO headaches: slow reporting cycles, reliance on technical specialists, and missed opportunities from delayed decisions. “This is about moving beyond static reporting to dynamic, collaborative intelligence,” he said.

The release underscores a broader industry shift: embedding AI directly into marketing workflows to make insights not only faster, but integral to daily decision-making.

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Oshkosh-based 4imprint has once again proven that consistency pays off—not just in promotional products but in workplace culture. The retailer landed on the 2025 Fortune Best Workplaces in Advertising and Marketing list, marking its 18th consecutive year of recognition. That’s nearly two decades of staying power in an industry where talent churn is more common than client loyalty.

The annual list, compiled by Great Place To Work and Fortune, is built on a rigorous analysis of employee survey data. This year, responses from more than 8,500 employees across certified organizations were evaluated, with 4imprint earning especially high marks—90% of its team members said it’s a great place to work.

Culture That Sticks

Unlike flashy perks or short-lived employer branding campaigns, 4imprint’s formula for recognition seems grounded in everyday values. CEO Kevin Lyons-Tarr credited the company’s people for shaping the culture: “Their positivity, curiosity, and collaboration are just some of the reasons we have so much to celebrate.”

For context, Great Place To Work taps into more than 1.3 million survey responses annually, making this one of the largest ongoing workforce studies in the U.S. To even be considered, companies must already be Great Place To Work-certified, setting a high bar for entry.

Industry Signal

Recognition on Fortune’s list doesn’t just burnish a company’s employer brand—it also signals operational stability in a competitive sector. In advertising and marketing, where the fight for skilled talent is fierce, 4imprint’s 18-year streak is an outlier. Most organizations can’t sustain cultural momentum through market swings, let alone across nearly two decades of technological disruption.

Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work, summed it up: “In every industry, our research shows that investing in people drives productivity and higher revenues.” For 4imprint, that investment is clearly compounding.

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Marketing teams love a good brainstorm, but keeping everyone on the same page—especially with AI in the mix—can feel like herding cats. Oshkosh-based agency Good At Marketing wants to change that. The certified Google Partner has struck a beta partnership with SharedChat.ai, the first platform designed for multi-user AI collaboration in shared conversation threads.

The deal makes Good At Marketing the first marketing agency to bring SharedChat’s collaborative AI into its workflows, spanning client service delivery, strategy development, and internal team sessions.

What Makes SharedChat Different

While most AI tools are built for one user, SharedChat.ai flips the script. The platform allows multiple users to participate in the same conversation thread while toggling AI assistance on or off as needed. Teams can choose:

• Collaboration mode: multiple AI models work together.

• Competition mode: AI engines battle it out to deliver the best solutions.

• Human-only mode: sensitive discussions stay AI-free but retain full context.

It also includes a prompt builder designed for team-based marketing tasks, helping groups refine their AI queries collaboratively instead of working in silos.

“This revolutionary approach changes everything about how we work,” said Roni Strompf, Chief Content Officer at Good At Marketing. “When our entire team can collaborate with Claude, GPT, and other AI models in unified threads, then toggle between modes as needed, we’re fundamentally transforming how marketing teams operate.”

Beyond the Chat Window

For Good At Marketing, the partnership builds on its existing AI Form Reply service, which auto-responds to website inquiries, qualifies leads, and books meetings. The addition of SharedChat pushes the agency deeper into end-to-end AI-powered marketing, from first contact through collaborative campaign planning.

Donnie Strompf, founder of SharedChat.ai, called Good At Marketing “the perfect beta partner,” noting the agency’s expertise in digital marketing and early adoption of AI for client engagement.

Why It Matters

The beta tests are surfacing clear use cases for marketers:

• Shared Strategy Sessions: multiple staff brainstorming in one thread, switching AI input on/off as needed.

• Client Workshop Integration: letting clients join shared chats while tightly controlling AI participation.

• Creative Development: pitting AI models against each other to generate campaign concepts.

• Context Preservation: keeping conversation history intact even when AI is temporarily disabled.

It’s a sharp contrast with most AI tools, which require starting fresh whenever context shifts.

The Bigger Picture

As AI collaboration matures, SharedChat’s toggle-based approach could reshape how agencies and enterprises alike manage brainstorming, workshops, and client-facing interactions. For Good At Marketing, it’s a chance to get ahead of rivals experimenting with AI-enhanced workflows.

“This isn’t just early access to innovative tech,” said Roni Strompf. “It’s the future of how marketing teams collaborate.”

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Slow Wi-Fi is the fastest way to ruin a hotel stay, derail a business meeting, or frustrate fans at a stadium. Ookla, the Ziff Davis subsidiary behind the ubiquitous Speedtest app, wants to end that gamble with the launch of Speedtest Certified™, a new program that verifies a property’s network performance against rigorous standards.

For years, consumers have turned to Speedtest to check their own connections. Now Ookla is extending that trust to physical spaces—think hotels, airports, office buildings, and sports arenas—where reliable connectivity is often more important than the minibar.

The Gold Seal of Connectivity

Speedtest Certified isn’t just a marketing badge. Properties must undergo a comprehensive, data-driven assessment of their enterprise network deployments. The process evaluates:

• Wi-Fi radio frequency (RF) quality

• Network configuration and security

• Performance metrics across multiple devices

• ISP backhaul quality

Those that meet the standards earn a certification backed by one of the most recognizable names in connectivity testing. Certified properties also gain access to a digital platform for benchmarking, insights, and recommendations to keep their networks competitive.

“Today, Ookla is introducing a solution,” said Stephen Bye, CEO of Ookla. “For years, you’ve trusted Speedtest for your own connectivity. Now, with Speedtest Certified, we’re extending that trust to the places you visit.”

Why It Matters

Connectivity is now a core amenity for tenants, guests, and employees. Poor internet isn’t just an inconvenience—it can sink customer satisfaction scores and revenue. By offering a trusted verification system, Ookla is effectively creating a “Good Housekeeping Seal” for Wi-Fi and broadband.

That could prove especially valuable for property owners competing in crowded sectors like hospitality and commercial real estate, where customer expectations around seamless digital experiences are higher than ever.

Hamdy Farid, SVP of Product at Ookla, framed it this way: “Speedtest Certified is the gold standard in network verification. It provides objective metrics to validate investments and stand out in a crowded market. For the rest of us, it simply eliminates the guesswork.”

Industry Context

The launch comes as connectivity becomes a make-or-break factor in real estate and events. Marriott and Hilton, for example, already advertise upgraded Wi-Fi as a differentiator. Tech-forward venues like Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas are investing heavily in network infrastructure to support streaming-hungry fans. Ookla’s program could push the industry toward greater transparency and accountability in connectivity standards.

For property owners, the certification offers both a competitive edge and a defensive play: in a world where bad reviews often start with “the Wi-Fi was terrible,” Speedtest Certified could be the digital badge that saves them from public shaming.

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G2, the world’s largest B2B software marketplace, is teaming up with Profound to help software companies understand — and influence — how they’re discovered in AI-powered search.

The partnership integrates Profound’s answer engine optimization (AEO) and AI visibility data directly into G2’s customer dashboards. This gives software vendors real-time insights into when and how their product categories are being cited by large language models (LLMs), with G2 as the source.

“B2B software buyers are increasingly shifting to AI-first search over traditional engines,” said Godard Abel, co-founder and CEO of G2. “To reach them, companies need visibility inside LLMs. With Profound, we’re not just showing brands how often they’re cited — we’re helping them improve that presence.”

The new AI Visibility dashboard turns AI discovery into a performance channel. Companies can now:

• Track the frequency of G2 citations across AI search platforms.

• Benchmark their standing against competitors.

• Identify which G2 product categories drive citations.

• Surface top-performing prompts from AI queries.

Built-in recommendations, like increasing recent reviews, help turn insight into action. Go-to-market teams can also track traffic originating from AI search and adjust strategies in real time.

James Cadwallader, co-founder and CEO of Profound, emphasized the urgency: “Every brand needs to understand and control how AI interprets and recommends their products. G2’s scale across B2B SaaS makes them the perfect partner to reshape discovery in the AI era.”

Profound’s platform equips enterprise marketers to ensure their products are accurately represented in AI-generated answers. G2, already one of the most-cited B2B software sources across LLMs, ranks 4th among the top sources on ChatGPT and 9th on Perplexity.

Together, G2 and Profound aim to give B2B software companies a competitive edge as AI-driven search reshapes how buyers find and evaluate technology.

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Google may still dominate search, but if you’ve asked ChatGPT, Gemini, or Elon Musk’s Grok for a recommendation lately, you’re part of a growing trend reshaping marketing. Consumers are increasingly turning to AI assistants over traditional search engines—and that shift leaves small businesses scrambling to stay visible.

Enter NextPR Engine™, a new platform from Chicago-based More Leverage Solutions, Inc. The agency, founded by Gen X entrepreneur and former Fortune 50 strategist Patty Dominguez, claims its tool helps service-based businesses land the kind of media placements and digital credibility that AI systems actually trust and surface.

Why This Matters

For years, SEO has been the go-to playbook. But with generative AI now answering questions directly, small businesses can’t rely on backlinks and keywords alone. “The reality is, people aren’t just ‘Googling it’ anymore, they’re asking AI,” said Dominguez. “If you’re invisible there, you’re losing opportunities.”

That invisibility isn’t hypothetical. AI models increasingly favor content tied to authoritative sources, meaning a business without credible mentions may never show up in results—even if its website is optimized for Google. NextPR Engine™ aims to bridge that gap, helping businesses build trust signals recognizable to both AI systems and human buyers.

How It Works

At launch, NextPR Engine™ focuses on Stage 1 of Leverage OS™, a growth framework Dominguez’s agency has been developing. That stage is all about visibility: securing brand mentions, authoritative placements, and signals that AI tools treat as credible.

Future stages—already teased—cover conversion and optimization, with products like Know Your Leads™, Follow-Up Flywheel™, and the Cashflow Command Center™. Together, these form what Dominguez calls a Fortune-50-style “growth operating system” for small businesses.

A Timely Play in a Shifting Market

The timing feels spot-on. Rivals from HubSpot to Semrush are also pivoting their tools toward AI-driven search, but those are built for larger marketing teams. NextPR Engine™ is pitched as an accessible alternative for service-based solopreneurs and small shops that lack the budget—or patience—for heavyweight platforms.

The bigger question is whether AI-driven discoverability becomes the new SEO. Early evidence suggests it might: A 2024 Gartner report predicted that by 2026, 30% of search traffic will bypass traditional engines in favor of AI assistants. If that holds, tools like NextPR Engine™ could go from nice-to-have to mission-critical.

Bottom Line

For small businesses squeezed between big-brand ad budgets and ever-changing algorithms, NextPR Engine™ offers a new path to visibility in an AI-first world. Whether it can level the playing field—or just become another must-have subscription in the marketing toolkit—will depend on how fast consumer search habits continue to shift.

But if you’re running a service business and relying solely on Google rankings, consider this your wake-up call: AI assistants are already rewriting the rules.

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