Autopilot

Originally launched as Autopilot in 2012, the company rebranded to Ortto in March 2022 to better reflect its expanded capabilities beyond marketing automation. The Australian-born software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm was founded by brothers Michael, Chris, and Peter Sharkey. Michael Sharkey, the CEO, and Chris Sharkey, the CTO, steered the company's evolution from a simple visual marketing automation tool to a comprehensive customer journey platform.

The founders' journey involved a significant move from Sydney to San Francisco to tap into the tech ecosystem, successfully raising $35 million in funding from notable investors like Blackbird Ventures and Salesforce Ventures. In 2018, they returned to Sydney to focus on a complete, ground-up rebuild of the platform. This strategic pivot was driven by the observation that their customers struggled with unifying customer data and gaining actionable insights from it. The result was a new platform launched in 2021, leading to the rebrand to Ortto, a name derived from "auto" to honor its Autopilot roots while signaling its broader vision.

Ortto operates in the marketing technology (Martech) sector, providing a unified platform that integrates a Customer Data Platform (CDP), marketing automation, and analytics. It serves a global client base of over 11,000 businesses across 190 countries, ranging from solo entrepreneurs to enterprise teams at companies like Atlassian and Greenpeace. The business model is subscription-based, offering scalable plans that allow users to start small and expand their usage as they grow, without needing to engage a salesperson. Revenue is generated through these tiered subscriptions, which grant access to the platform's powerful suite of tools.

The core of Ortto's offering is its ability to consolidate disparate customer data sources into a single, accessible platform. This enables marketers to create highly personalized, data-driven customer experiences. Key features include a visual journey builder for automating marketing campaigns, in-depth contact management and segmentation, a drag-and-drop email builder, and robust reporting capabilities to track campaign performance. A unique selling point is the platform's emphasis on democratizing data analytics, empowering marketers to build visualizations and derive insights without needing technical expertise. The platform also includes team collaboration features, allowing multiple users to work on campaigns simultaneously.

Keywords: Ortto, Autopilot, marketing automation, customer data platform, CDP, journey analytics, SaaS, Michael Sharkey, Chris Sharkey, Peter Sharkey, customer journey orchestration, lead conversion, marketing analytics, B2B marketing, B2C marketing, email marketing, multi-channel marketing, data unification, personalization, martech