Austin-based Artis serves more than 60 of the country’s most acclaimed residential design and construction firms, running their social media, websites, and AI search presence. Co-founders Zach Rubin, Sahar Afrakhan, and David Rubin are joined by Melissa Fodo and David Moon to lead the next chapter.

AUSTIN, Texas: Artis, a brand partner to residential architects, interior designers, and custom home builders shaping high-end residential work, today announced $7.3M in Seed funding led by LiveOak Ventures, with participation from mark vc and Capital Factory. Artis has also secured up to $3M in revolving credit from Banc of California, bringing total potential capital to $10.3M.

The capital will fund continued investment in Artis’s technology platform, expanding this year from social media into websites, generative-engine optimization (GEO), and other channels where a practice’s brand is found, alongside growth across the executive, client experience, sales, and software engineering teams. The funding coincides with Artis’s first public unveiling of its new brand identity.

Founded in 2022, Artis works with more than 60 firms, including some of the country’s most acclaimed residential practices: McALPINE, Kligerman AD, Schafer & Company, Cravotta Interiors, and Foursquare Builders. Each surface Artis runs - website, social content, AI search presence - is fed by the same underlying intelligence built about that specific practice: its voice, its standards, the decisions and craft behind every project. The work sharpens the longer the partnership runs.

“The architects, designers, and builders I sit with feel personally accountable to spaces they’ll never live in, for moments they’ll never witness. They refuse to stop at good enough. But they tell me only twenty percent of their day actually goes to the craft itself. The rest gets eaten by the marketing, the procurement, the coordination, and everything else it takes to run a practice. We take that on, so they can return to the craft. The version of AI worth caring about here isn’t the kind that replaces the judgment. It’s the kind that serves it.”

- Zach Rubin, Co-founder and CEO, Artis

Leadership. Artis was co-founded by Zach Rubin (CEO), Sahar Afrakhan (Head of Product & Operations), and David Rubin (Head of Strategy). The funding announcement coincides with two senior hires anchoring the leadership team. Melissa Fodo joins as Head of Brand & Marketing from McGarrah Jessee, where she helped build some of the most iconic brands in modern American culture, including Yeti. David Moon joins as Head of Client Partnerships from a career leading client-experience organizations at Austin SaaS companies including Bazaarvoice, Accruent, and Clover Sport, with earlier work at McKinsey & Company.

“What we’re building is a team of brand partners armed with connected intelligence about each practice they serve: its voice, its standards, the decisions and craft behind every project. AI enables a level of depth that simply was not possible before. Today, that depth shapes their content, their website, and how they show up in AI search. Tomorrow, the way they run their practice.”

- Sahar Afrakhan, Co-founder and Head of Product & Operations, Artis

“Artis has a keen ear for what makes the voice of each brand they work with unique, and the talent to tell those stories with authenticity and panache. They make an outstanding partner for any company finessing the delicate art of reaching their target audiences and enhancing engagement.”

- Gil Schafer III, Founding Partner, Schafer & Company

“Architects, designers, and builders are among the most talented creative professionals in the world, yet only a fraction of their time actually goes to practicing their craft. Artis takes on everything else, with AI that learns the voice, standards, and sensibility of each practice, delivers insights and solutions that compound with every engagement. We're proud to back Zach and Sahar, and David again, as they look to build a category-defining company in this space.”

- Krishna Srinivasan, Founding Partner, LiveOak Ventures

Artis will launch websites and AI-search discoverability (GEO) in the coming months.

About Artis

Artis runs the social media, websites, and AI search presence for residential architects, interior designers, and custom home builders shaping high-end residential work. Today, that includes some of the country’s most acclaimed practices: McALPINE, Kligerman AD, Schafer & Company, Cravotta Interiors, and Foursquare Builders. The work begins with brand and extends into the operational weight of running a modern practice, built on AI that serves taste rather than replaces it. *In service of beauty.

About LiveOak Ventures

LiveOak Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Austin, Texas. With over 23 years of successful venture investing in Texas, the founders of LiveOak have helped create nearly $5 billion of enterprise value. A complete life cycle investor focused on technology and technology-enabled service companies, LiveOak has nearly $500M under management and has led investments in 60 high-growth Texas-based companies, including DISCO (NYSE: LAW), Eventus, OJO Labs, AmplifAI, Homeward, Take Command Health, and Osano. Recognized as the Venture Capital Firm of the Year at the inaugural A-List awards by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, LiveOak is dedicated to supporting local founders, fostering the next generation of leaders, and building category-dominating companies.

Fonte: Business Wire