The pandemic has made it harder for luxury brands to connect with their customers, something that Menlo Park-based BSPK Inc. CEO Zornitza Stefanova hopes to fix. Her startup raised about $7 million earlier this month in a Series Around led by Northern Light Venture Capital. She spoke to The Pitch this week about the company.

What problem does your company solve?

We help luxury brands engage and retain high-value retail

customers by connecting them from stores and websites to sales advisers via mobile and video. Shopping habits have changed and one cannot underestimate the emotional aspect of high-value purchases. This is where developing a personal relationship with the customer really matters.

What inspired the company?

I had a fantastic experience with a designer brand where the sales adviser was so engaging and inspiring in his recommendations that he became a personal friend.

At the time, there were little to no digital tools for advisers to interact with customers beyond the store. This is still the case for many brands.

I researched what tools were needed by working as a sales adviser. I was struck by the lack of data and technology available to advisers to gain insights about their clients. Most platforms ignore the sales adviser. But more often than not they are the human face of the brand and play a central role in

building a relationship.

How do you make money?

Subscriptions. We are a cloud platform with a software-as-a-

service subscription model.

What's the size of your potential target market?

The luxury market is a $1.4 trillion industry. Software

solutions dedicated to customer relationship management,

according to some estimates, are on track to become a $40 billion market globally by 2023.

Who are your competitors and what's your advantage?

BSPK is defining a new category of service that is dedicated to managing client relationships with a human

touch at scale. Our competitors are in different categories today messaging, video streaming, or even custom development, but no one is doing a great job of enabling

the luxury sales adviser to do their job easily and efficiently.