Securing ad campaigns with social media influencers has always been tricky. Influencers often have their own way of doing business, and there’s no universal system brands can follow to connect with them. Meanwhile, Influencer marketing agencies rely heavily on human teams to handle bookings, monitor campaigns, and chase down payments—limiting how many influencers they can work with at once.
This old-school marketing approach is slowing down the growth of the entire creator economy. But what if AI could handle these repetitive tasks, allowing brands to run hundreds of influencer campaigns simultaneously?
That’s the vision driving Agentic Marketing Technologies (AMT), a startup that just secured $3.5 million in seed funding from San Francisco-based venture capital firm NFX.
At the heart of AMT’s platform is Lyra, an AI chatbot designed to communicate naturally with influencers. Lyra manages everything from campaign bookings and performance tracking to payments and answering questions—handling each interaction like a skilled human marketer. More impressively, Lyra can even identify influencers who align perfectly with a campaign’s goals.
Tom Hollands, AMT’s co-founder and CEO, knows this struggle firsthand after managing influencer budgets himself. He co-founded the company with Christian Johnston, an expert in building adtech data infrastructure.
“Right now, scaling influencer marketing means hiring fresh graduates, overloading them with deals, and hoping they survive,” Hollands shared. “They’re stretched thin, sending endless follow-ups and often can’t even remember who they’ve messaged.”
AMT aims to eliminate that grind by blending the power of multiple AI models. The platform uses OpenAI for general tasks, Google’s Gemini for analyzing influencer videos, and Hume AI to read tone and sentiment. This multi-model approach allows AMT to assign the best tool for every task—enhancing both accuracy and personalization.
Hollands believes this edge will revolutionize influencer marketing. By “watching” and “listening” to influencer content, AMT’s AI can grasp each creator’s unique tone and style. That means brands can build genuine, personalized relationships with influencers—just like a dedicated partnership manager would.
“AI finally makes it possible to speak to each influencer with context and history, across different brands, just like a human relationship,” Hollands explained.
Though only three months old, AMT is already gaining traction. The startup recently relocated from London to San Francisco, onboarding early customers like Le Petit Lunetier, Neoplants, and Wild.
The timing couldn’t be better. The influencer marketing industry is expected to reach $266.92 billion this year. While platforms like GRIN, Upfluence, ShopMy, and Agentio still depend on human-led interactions, AMT offers a game-changing alternative. Its AI-first model bypasses the traditional seat-based pricing, delivering campaigns faster and more efficiently.
AMT estimates that securing a single influencer deal typically takes around nine hours of manual work. With Lyra, that process shrinks to just five minutes.
Backing AMT’s vision, NFX General Partner Pete Flint commented, “AI is fundamentally reshaping industries, and marketing is no exception. AMT isn’t just building tools—it’s replacing human labor with AI. It’s clear this technology will become essential for brands globally.”
As the creator economy grows, AMT’s AI-driven platform could be the breakthrough brands need to scale campaigns without drowning in manual tasks.
