Helping SMEs streamline lead generation automation. The story behind Funely AI, a Ukrainian startup
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In our recurring Who Are These People segment, Vector offers founders an opportunity to discuss their projects, covering aspects such as their products, marketing strategies, monetisation, investments, and business plans. The focus this time is on Funely AI, a Ukrainian startup, which has built an AI-driven platform to help SMEs manage lead generation through automation, eliminating the need for coding.
Editor-in-chief Yuliia Tkach interviewed Ihor Kobzar, Funely AI’s CEO and co-founder, about the product’s features, promotion, investments, and plans.
Conception
Funely AI has three co-founders:
- Ihor Kobzar, CEO. Funely AI is this entrepreneur’s second startup. He previously worked on fintech solutions for small farmers, but that was halted at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Earlier, he participated in the Startup Wise Guys acceleration programme and has worked in website development and advertising campaigns on a freelance basis.
- Sasha Dunaiev, CTO. With over 10 years of experience in IT, he specialises in marketing technology and building complex, high-performance funnels. He has experience managing teams of developers.
- Andrii Vasyliev, AI & UX. He is a developer focusing on R&D. He built a tracked robot at home that can carry up to 100 kg of cargo (Ihor Kobzar joked, «We have yet to figure out how we will use the robot at Funely AI»).
The founders first considered launching a marketing technology startup in June 2022: «Our goal was to create a service that simplifies digital marketing for small businesses, as we understood from our own experience how tough it can be for entrepreneurs — many of which lack specialised skills – to navigate online platforms and reach customers through online promotion», — says Ihor. Throughout 2022 and 2023, the team focused on customer development, conducting interviews, and in 2023, launched their first prototype. In 2024, they developed an MVP primed for the market.
Alongside the founders, the team includes several part-time experts who contribute their skills in promotion, design, and product development. While they don’t intend to expand the team significantly in the immediate future, they have identified a shortlist of specialists to bring on board when they enter their growth stage.
Product and audience
Funely AI is a web-based tool that scans a client’s online presence, such as their website, social media, and presentations, and uses a built-in AI agent to create essential marketing funnel components. These can range from advertising creatives and keywords to landing pages and CRM integrations. This platform is designed to work on both desktop computers and mobile devices.
According to Ihor Kobzar, Funely AI serves «several dozen» clients, mainly based in the US, and generates several thousand dollars in revenue:
We started by conducting a series of interviews with potential clients, with a particular focus on marketing agencies. These conversations caused us to modify our initial hypothesis and helped us identify the pain points in the market.
So we started creating the MVP: we developed a prototype, collected feedback from beta users, and iterated on our design. The first clients to pay for our services were Ukrainian businesses. Eventually, we also gained subscribers from the US and elsewhere. By the way, we have clients in Ukraine operating in de-occupied regions, and a company that manufactures products for the Ukrainian Defence Forces — we are really proud of this», — says Ihor.
The process for new users is as follows:
- Register on the platform.
- Create a project.
- Provide a link to their Instagram or Facebook account or describe their company in a Funely AI survey.
- The team will review the materials to gain insights into the business.
- Funely AI generates a single-page site to allow you to track using the most popular analytical tools.
- The team integrates the CRM with the site.
- Keyword search (alpha version).
- Creative generation (set to be developed this year).
- Rolling out an advertising campaign (alpha version).
- The next step involves monitoring the results using an internal statistical system.
- Funely AI implements auto-corrections to the campaign based on the results (scheduled for development).
At this stage of the product’s development, steps 1–6 and additional monitoring have been incorporated into the MVP. Any functions not automated by the platform at this time are performed manually by the team for clients.
«We operate in a highly competitive digital marketing software market, one that is estimated to exceed $70 billion and expand by 15% each year. This means it will likely double in six years. There are over 30 million micro, small, and medium-sized businesses registered in the US alone, with about 5 million new registrations occurring annually. This niche is expansive and expanding, yet it is highly competitive; only the ‘best products’ and ‘right solutions’ will enable long-term success.
Our mission is to empower small businesses to attract clients by swiftly and effectively launching online advertising campaigns, regardless of their knowledge, time, or budget constraints.
More broadly, we also extend our focus to freelancers and marketing agencies that partner with small businesses.
With Funely AI, you can build a funnel while also avoiding typical mistakes like improper ad settings, landing pages that lack conversions, and unproductive creatives. This is particularly relevant in the US and other Tier-1 markets, where advertising expenses are significantly high and specialists charge premium rates», — explains the co-founder.
Business model and marketing strategy
Funely AI is currently offered as a SaaS solution based on a subscription model. The team is evaluating multiple pricing options, where small companies can choose a basic plan, while marketing agencies sign up for an advanced plan that offers additional integrations. Looking ahead, they are contemplating a transactional model that would allow them to scale based on the volume of customer transactions.
The lowest subscription plan available for small businesses is priced at $19 per month. It provides a one-page website, equipped with CRM features and analytical data. It is usually good for newly established small businesses that are collecting leads through organic channels.
The most expensive plan costs $289 per month. It enables users to launch multiple campaigns on MetaAds and Google Ads, create up to five landing pages, design advertising creatives, access detailed reporting, and receive support from an account manager.
Marketing agencies can access more premium tariffs, which are negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
The team is exploring various channels to enhance user engagement:
- Social media and search engines — traditional channels for traffic, featuring personalised advertising.
- Content marketing and organic strategies — sharing valuable materials and success stories on blogs and social media platforms.
- Outreach — direct engagement with potential customers and partners.
- Word of mouth.
At this point, we are pursuing the most effective channels and developing hypotheses that would enable us to scale up our business down the line.
Investments
During the initial phase, the co-founders contributed approximately $10,000 from their personal funds. Subsequently, they secured a grant of €25,000 from Seeds of Bravery, which supported product development and first marketing experiments.
Additional earnings from their customers were directed towards further development and testing efforts. In March 2025, they received a $25,000 grant from USF, which they plan to invest in marketing and sales to drive up the number of users, paid subscriptions, and average transaction size.
The founder forecasts that the startup will require roughly $300,000 in funding to scale and elevate its operations in the upcoming months. They aim to use the funds to refine the product, enhance marketing efforts, and grow their presence in the US market.
Plans
«Our goal is to be recognised as the ‘world’s top tool’ for small businesses and marketing agencies seeking to launch online advertising quickly and effectively. Our current priority is to establish product-market fit and confirm that our product addresses the actual needs of our users.
Over the next few months, we will continue to actively experiment with different marketing hypotheses to identify the most promising audience and best promotion channels», — summarises Ihor Kobzar.
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