Instant, the platform building AI agents for eCommerce brands to automate their retention marketing, announced today a strategic investment from HubSpot Ventures. The investment brings Instant’s total funding to more than $30 million as it scales product and engineering and doubles down on US expansion.

Product Milestones and AI-First Growth

The funding comes as Instant hits a new wave of major milestones. Its AI agents for email and SMS marketing reached $1 million ARR in under 70 days from launch in 2025. Over the past 8 months, ARR has grown 10x and nearly 90% of all new deals globally are now AI-first.

For brands that go all-in, Instant AI agents power 30% of annual site revenue through email and, in almost every case, generate 3 to 5x more revenue than the legacy email platform they used before. Content personalization, Instant Labs auto A/B testing, stronger shopper identification, and AI-powered campaigns are driving that shift

In the last 12 months, Instant has tripled the number of brands on its platform from 500 to 1,500+, with flagship brands such as Liquid IV, ThirdLove, and David Protein now on Instant. Over the same period, average ROI has climbed from 15x to 76x and AI powered retention emails have generated $1 billion in incremental revenue across leading Shopify brands.

Momentum and Revenue Impact for Brands

“This is the fastest-growing product we’ve ever brought to market,” said Liam Millward, Co-Founder and CEO of Instant. “Brands do not want more tools to manage; they want technology that actually does the work and drives revenue. Instant AI has become mission critical for the best Shopify brands.”

Liam Milliard speaking with Brooke Cullision, VP of Media & Acquisition at Neuro, at eTail Palm Springs

That impact is already visible across standout customer results. Linda’s now generates 51% of monthly site revenue through Instant at 102x ROI, Xero Shoes generates more than $1 million in incremental revenue with Instant every 30 days, and The Collagen Co has reached $10.4 million in incremental revenue at a 124x ROI.

Shift Toward AI-Native Platforms

For Instant, the backing is more than capital. Email marketing for DTC brands has stayed too manual, too complex, and too dependent on legacy platforms for years. HubSpot’s investment is a strong signal that the category is moving toward AI-native platforms built to create, personalize, and optimize revenue-driving email marketing from the ground up.

"The best marketing teams in the world are choosing Instant and the results speak for themselves. We're in the early innings of agentic marketing and Instant is one of the clearest examples of AI agents driving real, measurable outcomes for the teams that adopt them. We see strong potential to partner with Liam and the team as we explore what this next generation of autonomous marketing looks like across HubSpot's ecosystem." 

-Adam Coccari, Managing Director, HubSpot Ventures

The investment sets the stage for Instant’s next chapter in the US. Liam relocated to New York full-time in February 2026 to lead that push, as the company doubles down on winning the awareness game in the world’s largest eCommerce market. At the same time, Instant is scaling product and engineering to ship faster, deliver critical features, and extend its lead in modern email marketing.