Hypefy AI Secures $7.2 Million for Global Influencer Campaign Automation

Hypefy AI Secures $7.2 Million for Global Influencer Campaign Automation

Hypefy AI, the Croatia-based platform leveraging artificial intelligence to optimize the execution of influencer marketing campaigns, has announced the completion of a $7.2 million Series A funding round. The operation was led by AYMO Ventures, with participation from existing investors Interactive Venture Partners, Oktogon Ventures, and Euroventures. This new capital follows a $1.75 million seed round last year, which involved Fil Rouge Capital and angel investor Dražen Pehar.

The Challenge of Manual Management in Creator Marketing

Despite the exponential growth of the influencer marketing sector, campaign execution largely remains a manual and fragmented process. Brands and agencies still rely on spreadsheets, message exchanges, complex negotiations, and a multitude of disconnected tools to manage partnerships with creators. This approach often involves repeating the same processes across different campaigns and markets, leading to inefficiencies and high operational costs. The complexity further increases when managing collaborations on a global scale, where cultural nuances and local regulations demand meticulous attention.

Hypefy AI's Approach: End-to-End Automation

Founded by Stjepan Zelić, Hypefy AI aims to streamline these workflows through the application of artificial intelligence. The platform manages the entire pipeline of influencer campaign execution, from creator discovery to outreach, pricing definition to onboarding, contracting to content review, and performance tracking, reporting, and payments. Brands retain control over campaign briefs, budgets, and approvals, while the platform automates much of the operational work. This enables campaigns to be launched in multiple markets with greater efficiency and scalability.

Stjepan Zelić, CEO and co-founder of Hypefy AI, emphasized: "We built Hypefy so a brand can describe what it wants to achieve, stay in control of the key decisions, and let AI manage everything operational. We started from Croatia, outside the usual AI and adtech hubs, but from day one we built for global campaigns. This investment helps us scale to a category-defining technology in fully managed creator marketing."

Implications for AI Deployment and Data Sovereignty

The success of platforms like Hypefy AI highlights the growing adoption of artificial intelligence to automate complex business processes, even in sectors not traditionally "tech-heavy" like marketing. Although Hypefy AI operates as a cloud-based SaaS solution, its business model raises important considerations for companies evaluating AI deployments. The management of sensitive data related to campaigns, performance, and creator interactions, especially for high-profile clients such as NIVEA, Unilever, and Samsung, makes data sovereignty and compliance a crucial issue.

For organizations with stringent requirements regarding privacy, security, or air-gapped environments, adopting on-premise or hybrid AI solutions becomes a priority. Even if Hypefy AI does not explicitly position itself in this segment, the principle of automating complex processes while maintaining control over data and key decisions is a central theme for those evaluating AI infrastructure. TCO analysis, which includes not only licensing costs but also hardware, energy, and management expenses, is fundamental to determining the feasibility of a self-hosted deployment for similar AI workloads, while ensuring regulatory compliance and information security.

Future Prospects and Market Impact

To date, Hypefy AI has supported thousands of campaigns across 43 countries, generating over 700 million impressions. The new funding will be used to accelerate product development, expand international presence, and grow the team in Europe, the United States, and other key markets. This investment not only strengthens Hypefy AI's position in the adtech landscape but also signals a clear market trend towards AI solutions that promise greater efficiency, scalability, and operational control in digital marketing.