ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) marketer Needle has raised US$1.2 million in a pre-seed funding round, it said on Wednesday (Jul 5).

Venture capital firm Iterative led the round, which Ethos Fund and Goldbell Financial Services participated in. Angel investor JJ Chai, the founder of e-commerce brand aggregator Rainforest, also took part in the round.

The Singapore-based company said it will use the funds to grow its team, such as data scientists, AI trainers and engineers.

The startup uses generative AI to streamline the process of creating ad campaigns for e-commerce brands. This includes drafting e-mails to preparing and launching campaigns, in the process bringing down overall marketing costs.

Needle was co-founded in 2022 by chief executive Kiyan Foroughi, chief operating officer Serene Gan, chief growth officer Jeannie Nguyen and head of product Rachelle Yee. All four had previous experience in the e-commerce industry.