Creative force raises $8.9 million to bring AI to e-commerce workflows
Denmark-based startup Creative Force, which provides an AI-powered content operations workflow for large e-commerce retailers and brands, has secured $8.9 million in Series A funding. The investment was led by the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark and Hearst Ventures, with a post-money valuation of $56 million.
Founding and Early Growth
Creative Force was founded in 2019 by Thomas Kragelund, who serves as the company’s co-founder and CEO. Initially focused on the fashion and apparel market, the platform enables retailers and brands to create content for marketing campaigns and online merchandising at scale. By automating production workflows, Creative Force claims to increase efficiency by up to 30%, allowing companies to focus on other tasks.
"The need for content has exploded with social media and fast data connection speeds that enable more rich content," Kragelund explained in an email interview. "Uniting creativity and operations together in one platform is an interesting intersection because creativity is about making something new that hasn’t been seen before, and operations is the ability to repeat a process over and over again."
Expansion into New Verticals
Since its seed round in 2022, Creative Force has experienced significant growth, with a 170% year-over-year increase in other verticals such as home improvement, furniture, jewelry, and groceries. As a result, the company nearly doubled its development team and created a dedicated AI team.
In addition, Juliana Vail joined the company as managing director of its AI incubator, dreem.ai.
Investment Impact
The new investment brings Creative Force’s total funding to $17.9 million and will enable the company to:
- Continue integrating generative artificial intelligence into its platform
- Expand its Denmark headquarters
- Establish a new U.S. office in Boston
Kragelund emphasized the importance of AI in content production, stating that it "will be a game-changer in terms of producing content at scale."
Technology Development
Creative Force is investing in AI tools for:
- 2D and 3D images and models
- Product images without needing additional photoshoots
- Virtual models
The company is also developing a ‘co-pilot’ tool, which will write first drafts of product descriptions that can be reviewed, edited, and finalized by human copywriters.
Industry Impact
Megumi Ikeda, managing director at Hearst Ventures, highlighted the significance of Creative Force’s platform in catering to customers’ daily work patterns. "The Creative Force platform caters to its customer’s daily work patterns," Ikeda said via email. "Customers find it intuitive and easy to use. New users can use it right away."
Future Plans
With this investment, Creative Force aims to further expand its presence in the e-commerce content creation market, leveraging AI to drive efficiency and innovation.
As Kragelund noted, "We’re excited to continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with AI-powered content operations and look forward to working with our investors to achieve even greater heights."