Firmly raises $15M Series A led by Squarepoint Capital

Firmly said on Nov. 5 that it raised a $15 million Series A led by Squarepoint Capital, with participation from J.P. Morgan Payments, Mastercard, Samsung NEXT and other investors, as the Seattle-based startup expands its no-code agentic commerce platform and rolls out Ask Agent for merchant websites.

The company, which describes itself as a no-code agentic commerce platform connecting merchants to high-intent digital channels, said the new financing brings its total funding to approximately $20 million. Axios also reported the round and identified Squarepoint Capital as lead investor, with Samsung Next, JPMorgan Payments and Mastercard participating.

Firmly said the capital will support the global expansion of firmly Connect across merchants, AI agents, marketplaces, social networks and shoppable advertising platforms. The company said firmly Connect provides a common infrastructure layer that lets merchants make a single no-code connection to sell through new channels while keeping control of customer relationships, transaction data and merchant-of-record status.

What did Firmly announce with the new financing?

Firmly announced a $15 million Series A and the launch of Ask Agent at the same time, according to its Nov. 5 release and Business Insider Markets’ report on the announcement. The company said the round was led by Squarepoint Capital.

Business Insider Markets said the round also included Alumni Ventures, ARK Invest, Benhamou Global Ventures, Granada Funds, Hike Ventures, The Mercantile Companies and Versus Ventures. Firmly’s newsroom also listed Axios coverage alongside the release.

The company said the new money will accelerate the growth of firmly Connect across merchants and multiple commerce destinations. It did not disclose additional financing terms in the materials provided.

How does Firmly say its platform works?

Firmly says its product is designed to make it easier for merchants to plug into emerging AI-powered shopping channels without having to rebuild their commerce stack. The company said merchants need to connect catalogs, inventory, payments and checkout infrastructure across many AI platforms and protocols.

According to Firmly, firmly Connect acts as a shared infrastructure layer. The company said merchants can use a single no-code connection to sell through new channels while retaining control over customer relationships, transaction data and merchant-of-record status.

CEO Kumar Senthil said Firmly’s goal is to let merchants sell in any channel with zero engineering effort. He also said firmly Connect integrates with merchants rather than requiring merchants to integrate with Firmly.

Firmly said it is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, correcting an earlier UK location claim in some discovery material. The company said it is founded and run by repeat commerce-tech entrepreneurs.

What is Ask Agent and what results did Firmly report?

Ask Agent is Firmly’s new conversational shopping experience for merchant websites. The company said it lets consumers describe what they want in natural language and receive recommendations based on real-time catalog, pricing and inventory data.

Firmly said the experience can carry shoppers from discovery through checkout inside the conversation, with loyalty, cross-sell and post-purchase service support. It said Ask Agent works with merchants’ existing commerce infrastructure and can be added with a single line of JavaScript.

The company also reported early deployment results showing conversion rate improvements of up to 18% and average order value increases of up to 23%. Those figures were self-reported by Firmly and were not independently detailed in the materials provided.

President Damien Balsan said merchants need one reliable connection across human-led and agent-led shopping experiences. Firmly positioned Ask Agent as part of that broader shift, alongside firmly Connect.

Why does Firmly say the market opportunity is growing now?

Firmly pointed to its own reach claims and to broader AI-commerce adoption trends. The company said firmly Connect can help commerce channels access more than 11 million merchants representing more than $900 billion in GMV.

The Business Insider Markets release also cited Adobe’s expectation that AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail sites would grow 130% year over year during the holiday season. Firmly used that backdrop to argue that merchants will need infrastructure that works across both traditional and agent-led shopping experiences.

The company said the funding will help it bring more merchants and destinations onto its infrastructure faster. It also said the new capital supports the global growth of firmly Connect across AI agents, marketplaces, social networks and shoppable advertising platforms as it continues to build out its agentic commerce stack.