Amplitude, the publicly traded firm that makes software for doing digital analytics, is buying Command AI, an app user-engagement startup that had been known as CommandBar.
Most of the company's 30-person San Francisco-based team are going to join Amplitude. The co-founder and CEO of the company, James Evans, declined to say how much it was paid, or how many shares or warrants he took in the deal, but did answer candidly when asked if an acquisition was something he'd been thinking about:.

"Our growth was great and we had plenty of runway," Evans told TechCrunch in an interview. "We weren't out shopping ourselves or anything. But when Amplitude reached out a little while ago — this summer — we got really excited about the combination and became convinced that we could grow faster and reach more users together."

According to TechCrunch, a source close to the matter said that the deal is "north of $45 million.".

Founder Evans was able to start the company in 2021, guided by a mission to make search easy to add to the web applications of developers. Co-founder and co-founders Richard Freling and Vinay Ayyala developed the first product through Command AI-an in-app search bar with capabilities that brought results, shortcuts, and marked new app enhancements.

Over the next few years, the product lineup of Command AI grew to add to it a chatbot and AI Co-Browsing: guiding a user through in-app features by taking control of their mouse effectively. A product of relatively newer development is Nudge Autopilot-showing "nudges"-for example, to remind app users to try out certain features-automatically to the user based on metrics.

According to Evans, the products of Command AI are used by 25 million end-users daily through apps created by clients like HashiCorp, Gusto, Yotpo, and LaunchDarkly. Command AI had previously raised $23.8 million from investors who included Insight Partners, Itai Tsiddon, and Thrive Capital before it was acquired by Amplitude.

So how does Command AI's technology fit into the product roadmap for Amplitude? To answer, Amplitude CEO and co-founder Spenser Skates noted that the startup will enable Amplitude to be able to deliver "personalized user assistance" through in-product tours and onboarding experiences, along with many more.

Specifically, next year very early on, checklists and how-to guides for Amplitude will be accessible within Command AI, allowing customers to create action plans for apps and websites as well as interactive tours of their products. Announcements, another capability based on Command AI and coming to Amplitude, will allow customers to set up "smart triggers" in apps to drive updates and special offers.

Evans said integrations with Command AI are a natural progression, as the company has been providing connectors for Amplitude for some time.

"There's a really tight loop between tools that help you understand user behavior Amplitude and tools that help you influence user behavior us," he said. "Imagine you identify a user segment that seems not to be digging your product.". Well, obviously then, you would want to ask those users a question with a survey or try to nudge them towards some feature they might care about, and then aggregate that feedback or see the impact of that change. We have always solved that connection through integration, but being on the same team is going to allow us to build a much tighter feedback loop.

For example, as soon as the deal is closed, Evans will become product director at Amplitude, and Ayyala engineering director. They'll be co-overseeing Amplitude's new Command AI product org as it continues on providing products to Command AI's current customers through the rest of this year.

Command AI is Amplitude's third acquisition since the company was founded ten years ago. Earlier acquisitions include the purchase of predictive analytics firm ClearBrain in 2020 and data pipeline firm Iteratively back in 2021.

Amplitude boasts more than 2,700 paid customers, including 26 of the Fortune 100.