HubSpot has announced the acquisition of Israeli startup XFunnel, which was founded just 10 months ago. This is HubSpot’s first acquisition in Israel and is seen as an expansion of the company’s AI-powered marketing strategy.
XFunnel was founded in early 2025 by Beeri Amiel and Neri Bluman. The startup’s goal was to understand how marketing is changing in the age of AI and provide companies with tools for the era of “Answer Engines.” These tools help brands maintain visibility in a new environment where AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity provide users with direct answers rather than search results.
HubSpot and XFunnel’s partnership initially began as a customer relationship, then grew into an investment and eventually a full acquisition. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
HubSpot currently has a market cap of around $26 billion. The company presents the move as part of its new “Loop Marketing” initiative. The goal of this model is to offer companies an innovative approach to attracting customers, connecting with them, and optimizing the sales process through artificial intelligence platforms. According to HubSpot, AI-based prospecting is 3 times more effective than traditional methods.
Angela DeFranco, VP of Marketing at HubSpot, said:
“Artificial intelligence is changing the way people find and connect with companies. We want to make this transition easier for our customers.”
XFunnel co-founders Amiel and Bluman noted that the merger with HubSpot is a great opportunity to “co-shape the future of marketing.” According to them, the main focus will be on developing Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) — a new direction that ensures the visibility of brands in AI answers.
XFunnel’s development has been quite rapid: the startup was founded just 10 months ago, and after 6 months it began working with its first customers. Now, it will join HubSpot and contribute to deeper integration of AI-powered marketing into the platform used by more than 270,000 businesses.
