• The Georgia-based ARtttify uses AI to create gamified marketing campaigns for B2C brands
• In its first months, it launched 40+ contests, generating 120,000 leads and 21,000 customer conversions
• At AceON Accelerator’s Demo Day, it secured EUR 40K in funding as one of the top two startups
• The funding will support ARtttify’s product upgrades, including advanced analytics, scalable templates, AI tools, and a faster go-to-market strategy

Last July, the pan-European startup accelerator AceON invited startups to join its Autumn 2024 program. Pre-Seed startups from various industries participated in an intensive, international two-month acceleration program.

AceON in a Nutshell

AceON Accelerator is a collaborative effort between Accace, a global advisory firm, and ZAKA VC, one of Europe’s leading VC funds. It was created to support startup founders ready to face the challenges and demands of building a tech venture while navigating the unpredictable nature of the startup ecosystem. The program emphasizes the importance of deeply understanding and proactively addressing the genuine needs of customers.

The two-month acceleration program offered a packed schedule of hybrid and online lectures, workshops, and Q&A sessions covering topics like valuation, finance, PoC and MVP development, pitching strategies, geographic expansion, and more. The goal was to equip aspiring founders with the skills and confidence needed to stay organized and focused during the chaotic early stages of building a tech company.

ARtttify’s Beginnings

Altogether, it was AceON’s 4th batch, and it culminated with the Demo Day on November 28, 2024. After careful evaluation, the jury selected the top 2 startups to receive EUR 40K of investment. The Georgian ARtttify – the marketing platform for brands to run immersive, reward-based contests – is among the winners, alongside the Portuguese SentiVue.

Launched in 2024 by Mariam Kharazishvili and Aamir Abid, ARtttify is an AI-powered platform revolutionizing lead generation for B2C brands. It enables brands to quickly design and deploy gamified promotions and contests that drive virality, boost engagement, and generate high-quality, conversion-ready leads. In its early months, ARtttify facilitated the launch of over 40 successful campaigns, delivering 120,000 leads, with 21,000 converting into customers. The platform’s success has attracted a waitlist of over 200 brands and put together a community of 150,000 campaign participants.

The founding team brings together deep marketing expertise and exceptional technical skills. Before ARtttify, the duo owned a venture studio specializing in SaaS, AI, and blockchain products for early-stage startups. There, they built tools that helped businesses dream big and scale fast. After years of creating solutions for others, they decided to shift the focus on building and scaling their own products, including an AR marketing marketplace that they scaled in 14 countries.

The Meaning to the Name

‘The idea for ARtttify came from a problem we couldn’t ignore—ineffective lead generation. As marketers, we experienced firsthand how difficult it was to generate quality leads, even in a world full of digital tools. This wasn’t just our struggle; this frustration was mirrored in over 20,000 B2C brands we worked with through the marketing agency and marketplace we previously owned,’ Ms Kharazishvili recalls.

The sentiment found reflection in the startup’s name: according to the founders, ARtttify is a call to action for brands to transform static strategies into dynamic, artful experiences that make users excited to engage.

It begins with ‘AR’ as a nod to the team’s origins in augmented reality as they started by introducing innovative AR contests that exactly served the mentioned purpose. As they grew, they saw a bigger picture and a bigger opportunity—to go beyond AR and offer a diverse range of campaigns that could turn passive viewers into active participants. This realization transformed ARtttify from a focus on a single technology into a collective symbol of behavioral redefinition of how brands connect with their audiences.

The triple T is also more than just a stylish touch, but the foundation upon which the aspiring company builds: Technology, the tools that empower brands to innovate; Transformation, the magic of turning ordinary campaigns into extraordinary experiences; and Traction, the measurable results that show brands their efforts are paying off.

To Generate Ultimately Engaging Campaigns

What ARtttify does is help brands attract, engage, and convert audiences through highly interactive, gamified, and rewarding campaigns. This includes themed contests, contests with AR filters, instant-win games, and so on—all designed to capture attention and generate leads. Brands are provided a one-stop shop to create, launch, and track gamified campaigns without any manual effort and all done in minutes.

‘Timing is everything. Until recently, brands relied on fragmented tools that only solved part of the problem. The market lacked a platform that could seamlessly integrate creativity, interactivity, full automation from A to Z, and measurable lead generation. ARtttify exists because we didn’t just see the gap; we had the expertise to fill it at the perfect moment,’ Ms Kharazishvili comments.

A Strategic Opportunity for Investors

Accace Slovakia’s managing director and partner and AceON Accelerator’s co-founder Peter Pašek tells ITKeyMedia that the jury chose to reward ARtttify with an investment because its solution is a game-changer in lead generation for B2C brands and its metrics point not just at growth, but also underscore the efficiency and scalability of the product.

‘ARtttify stands out with its innovative approach, combining gamification and AI to deliver engaging and rewarding campaigns. This method aligns perfectly with the growing demand for interactive and customer-centric marketing strategies. And the strong founding team brings a clear vision and the execution power to turn ARtttify into a leader in its niche. With the booming demand for gamified marketing, investing in ARtttify is a strategic move toward a high-growth opportunity,’ Mr Pašek states.

‘Mariam and her team at ARtttify have impressed us from the start as exactly the kind of startup that we seek at AceON Accelerator. They demonstrated clear thinking, dedication, hard work, and excellent proactive communication during sessions and mentoring calls. From day one, their ambition to succeed and grow has been evident. They have a deep understanding of their customers and market, paired with remarkable experience that has enabled them to achieve impressive traction in just three months. We’re proud that AceON Accelerator is now part of their journey,’ the accelerator’s co-founder and ZAKA VC’s co-founder and managing partner Dr Ján Kasper adds.

What’s Next?

ARtttify’s plans in view of the additional funding that they’ve won primarily focus on product development. Specifically, this includes adding advanced analytics features, scaling campaign templates, and integrating AI tools that make campaign creation even faster and more personalized. Additionally, a portion of the funds will be used to accelerate ARtttify’s go-to-market strategy, ensuring more brands realize the value that this solution delivers.

‘Brands are about to rethink everything they know about audience activation,’ ARtttify’s CEO sums up.

As for AceON Accelerator, it already welcomes interested teams to subscribe for a reminder for its Spring Accelerator 2025.