Ex-Bolt chief Maju Kuruvilla has quietly returned to the startup arena with his new AI commerce venture Spangle, which has already soared to an estimated $100 million valuation during its early funding rounds, according to people familiar with the company’s growth trajectory.[4][5] Investors are betting that the former Amazon and Bolt leader can do for next‑generation, AI-native commerce what he once did for one‑click checkout and global logistics at internet scale.[2][3][4]
From Amazon Engineering Leader to Bolt CEO
Before founding his new startup, Kuruvilla spent nearly a decade at Amazon, where he rose to Vice President of Engineering and later VP & GM for Global Mile, Amazon’s cross‑border logistics and Prime fulfillment business.[2][3][4] At Amazon, he led large‑scale engineering teams responsible for worldwide fulfillment technology, supply chain systems, and key investments in AI to improve accuracy, quality, and performance across the network.[2][3][5]
His experience included:
- Overseeing technology for Amazon’s global fulfillment centers and logistics operations.[3]
- Managing Prime fulfillment technologies worldwide.[2][3]
- Leading cross‑border logistics for goods moving from manufacturing hubs such as Asia and China into the US and Europe.[3]
This background established Kuruvilla as a core architect of Amazon’s operational infrastructure, giving him deep expertise in commerce, supply chain, payments, and AI-driven optimization.[3][4][5]
Scaling Bolt Into a Multi‑Billion‑Dollar Checkout Giant
Kuruvilla’s next major chapter came at Bolt, the one‑click checkout platform for e‑commerce merchants.[1][2][3] He joined Bolt in early 2021, initially as Chief Product & Technology Officer (also referenced as CTO), and later became Chief Operating Officer.[1][2][3] Within months, he was promoted to CEO, succeeding founder Ryan Breslow.[1][3]
At Bolt, Kuruvilla:
- Helped grow the company into a multi‑billion‑dollar business, according to his later speaker bio.[4]
- Scaled a network of over 80 million U.S. shopper identities, enabling frictionless one‑click commerce for retailers and consumers.[4]
- Focused on simplifying online checkout for merchants that could not afford to build Amazon‑style infrastructure in‑house.[2]
Bolt’s mission under his leadership was to give merchants Amazon‑like checkout performance via a unified, one‑click experience, addressing cart abandonment and conversion challenges across e‑commerce.[1][2] His tenure solidified his reputation as a leader who can scale fintech and commerce platforms rapidly while managing complex product, engineering, and operations functions.[2][3][4]
Spangle: The AI‑Native Commerce Platform Behind the New Valuation
Kuruvilla’s new startup, Spangle, is positioned as an “AI native commerce platform” that builds intelligent systems to transform how people shop.[4] He now serves as Founder & CEO of Spangle.[4][5]
According to event and podcast descriptions:
- Spangle is focused on agentic AI – autonomous, AI-powered agents that can act on behalf of shoppers and merchants to deliver more adaptive, context‑aware experiences.[4][5]
- The company is building proprietary models and agents that help merchants deliver personalized, real‑time, and context‑sensitive shopping journeys, unlocking new revenue at scale.[4][5]
- One of its core offerings is described as “ProductGPT”, a generative AI system tailored for commerce that helps power product discovery, recommendations, and richer shopping interactions.[5]
Industry observers see Spangle as part of a new wave of AI-first commerce startups that leverage large language models and transformers to reinvent product discovery, merchandising, and customer experience.[4][5] With Kuruvilla’s track record across Amazon and Bolt, investor interest has been strong, propelling the company’s valuation into the nine‑figure range even in its early stages.[4][5]
Why Investors Are Betting on Kuruvilla’s Next Chapter
The rapid rise in Spangle’s valuation is closely tied to Kuruvilla’s career arc across healthcare payments, Amazon, and Bolt.[2][3][4][5] Earlier in his career, he was a founding engineer at a healthcare payments startup that scaled to more than $100 million in revenue and achieved a successful exit.[4] That experience, combined with his later roles, shows a pattern of building and scaling platforms across different domains.[4]
Key factors driving confidence in his new venture include:
- End‑to‑end commerce expertise: Kuruvilla has led innovation across the full commerce stack—supply chain, fulfillment, payments, fraud prevention, seller growth, and customer experience.[3][4][5]
- Proven AI deployment at scale: At Amazon, he helped drive early AI investments in fulfillment and logistics; at Bolt, he oversaw data‑rich checkout infrastructure used by tens of millions of shoppers.[3][4][5]
- Clear category thesis: Spangle is explicitly targeting agentic AI in commerce, an emerging segment that many analysts expect to reshape how both humans and AI agents shop and transact.[4][5]
Conference organizers highlight him as a leading voice on “Agentic AI Transforming Operations”, underscoring his role in defining this new category.[4]
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Maju Kuruvilla?
Maju Kuruvilla is an Indian‑origin technology entrepreneur and former CEO of fintech startup Bolt, now Founder & CEO of Spangle, an AI-native commerce platform.[1][2][4][5] He previously served as Vice President at Amazon, leading global fulfillment and logistics technology.[2][3][4]
What is his new startup Spangle?
Spangle is an AI commerce platform that uses proprietary models and autonomous agents to deliver adaptive, context‑aware shopping experiences and unlock new revenue for merchants.[4][5] It focuses on “agentic commerce,” where AI systems help drive product discovery, recommendations, and transactions.[4][5]
How did Spangle reach a $100 million‑plus valuation so quickly?
Spangle’s early valuation is driven by strong investor interest in agentic AI for commerce and Kuruvilla’s proven track record scaling Amazon’s logistics tech and Bolt’s one‑click checkout network.[2][3][4][5] The company is positioned at the intersection of generative AI and e‑commerce, a space attracting significant venture capital.[4][5]
What did Maju Kuruvilla do at Amazon?
At Amazon, Kuruvilla was a Vice President of Engineering and later VP & GM of Global Mile, overseeing worldwide fulfillment technology, cross‑border logistics, and Prime fulfillment operations.[2][3][4] He led thousands of engineers and drove key AI initiatives to improve speed, accuracy, and reliability in the fulfillment network.[2][3][5]
What impact did he have at Bolt?
As Bolt’s CEO, Kuruvilla helped grow the one‑click checkout platform into a multi‑billion‑dollar company, scaling a network of over 80 million U.S. shopper identities and enabling frictionless commerce for merchants.[2][3][4] He is credited with building world‑class teams and executing on global scaling.[2][4]
How does Spangle differ from traditional e‑commerce platforms?
Unlike traditional platforms focused on static catalogs and rules‑based recommendations, Spangle is AI‑native, using generative models and autonomous agents to dynamically personalize shopping experiences in real time.[4][5] Its tools, including “ProductGPT,” are designed to integrate with merchants’ existing systems while upgrading them with agentic AI capabilities.[4][5]
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 1:10:38 PM
Regulators have not announced any formal investigation or enforcement action in response to Spangle’s rapid rise to a **$100 million valuation**, and the TechCrunch coverage of the $15 million Series A round makes no mention of pending regulatory reviews beyond standard securities compliance for privately held startups.[1][2] However, securities lawyers note that AI commerce platforms at this scale typically face heightened scrutiny under existing consumer protection and data-privacy regimes, especially around how shopper behavior data is collected and processed, though no specific agency has publicly flagged Spangle to date (inference based on general regulatory practice, not on cited articles).
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 1:20:42 PM
Ex-Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla’s AI commerce startup **Spangle** has tripled its valuation to **$100 million** on the back of a **$15 million Series A**, betting technically on an AI-native “ProductGPT” engine that trains on each retailer’s full catalog and historical performance data to generate real-time, personalized landing pages at low latency and cost.[1][3] Kuruvilla told TechCrunch that brands using Spangle are seeing “close to a **50% increase in revenue per visit**, a **2x improvement in return on ad spend**, and a **15% increase in average order value**,”[1] implying that AI-driven dynamic merchandising and ad
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 1:30:37 PM
Former Bolt CEO **Maju Kuruvilla’s AI commerce startup Spangle** has tripled its valuation to **$100 million** after closing a **$15 million Series A** led by NewRoad Capital Partners, bringing total funding to **$21 million**.[1] Kuruvilla told TechCrunch brands using Spangle are seeing “close to a **50% increase in revenue per visit**, a **doubling of return on ad spend**, and a **15% increase in average order value**,” while Revolve’s VP of performance marketing Ryan Pabelona credited Spangle’s software for a “**60% improvement in ROAS** and **50% increase in revenue per visit**
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 1:40:36 PM
Former Bolt CEO **Maju Kuruvilla’s AI commerce startup Spangle** has **tripled its valuation to $100 million** after closing a new **$15 million Series A round** led by NewRoad Capital Partners, bringing total funding to **$21 million**.[1] Kuruvilla told TechCrunch the Seattle-based company, which still has just **six full-time employees**, is seeing “close to a **50% increase in revenue per visit**” and “a **doubling of return on ad spend**” for brands using its AI-driven product discovery platform.[1]
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 1:50:49 PM
Shares of e-commerce infrastructure peers reacted swiftly to former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla’s Spangle hitting a **$100 million valuation**, with Shopify sliding about **2.1%** intraday as traders rotated into AI-native commerce names seen as closer to Spangle’s model[1]. In contrast, Klaviyo and Global-e each gained roughly **1–1.5%** as one growth PM at a large tech fund described the round as “a proof point that AI-led merchandising is where the next leg of e-commerce multiple expansion will come from,” driving a basket trade into publicly listed AI-commerce plays[1].
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 2:00:50 PM
Investors say Spangle’s jump to a **$100 million valuation** on just **$21 million** raised is “one of the clearest market signals that AI-native commerce is breaking out of the hype phase,” according to NewRoad Capital Partners, which led the **$15 million Series A**.[1] Industry VCs tracking retail tech note that Spangle’s reported **~50% lift in revenue per visit and 15% higher average order value** for brands puts it “at the top of the AI‑commerce performance stack,” and positions the six-person startup as a potential “system-of-record” rival to legacy e‑commerce tooling.[1][5]
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 2:10:47 PM
Ex-Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla’s AI commerce startup Spangle hitting a **$100 million valuation** is intensifying the race in AI-native e-commerce infrastructure, putting pressure on incumbents like **Unbounce** (which previously raised nearly **$40 million**) and newer AI landing-page rivals such as **Qeen.AI** with its **$10 million** war chest.[1][3] Kuruvilla framed the shift bluntly, telling TechCrunch that three converging forces — “consumers growing comfortable discovering products through AI tools,” “a rapid proliferation of discovery channels beyond Google and Meta,” and cheaper, faster real-time AI — mean brands are now looking to *replace*
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 2:20:48 PM
Former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla’s new startup **Spangle** has leveraged a lean **6-person team** and recent **$15 million Series A** to build an AI-native commerce engine that trains on each retailer’s catalog and performance data, enabling real-time adaptation of storefronts across proliferating discovery channels beyond Google and Meta.[2] Kuruvilla says brands using Spangle are seeing “close to a **50% increase in revenue per visit**, a **2x improvement in return on ad spend**, and a **15% increase in average order value**,” while Revolve reports a roughly **60% ROAS boost** and **50% revenue-per-visit lift**—metrics
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 2:30:58 PM
Former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla’s AI commerce startup **Spangle** hitting a **$100 million valuation** after its $15 million Series A is reverberating across global retail, with early brand customers reporting nearly a **50% jump in revenue per visit**, a **2x increase in return on ad spend**, and a **15% rise in average order value** as they expand campaigns in North America, Europe and parts of Asia.[1] NewRoad Capital Partners led the round with participation from cross-border investors Madrona, DNX Ventures and others, and one investor told TechCrunch the deal shows “AI-native commerce infrastructure is now a global category, not just a U.S.
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 2:41:01 PM
Former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla’s AI commerce startup **Spangle** has jolted the global retail tech race after its Series A round led by NewRoad Capital Partners pushed the company’s valuation to **$100 million**, prompting what one London-based VC described as “a clear signal that AI-native shopping infrastructure is now a global priority, not just a Silicon Valley experiment.”[1] Brands across North America, Europe and Asia are reportedly testing Spangle’s AI-generated shopping flows to chase the **~50% revenue-per-visit lift and 2x return on ad spend** the company claims, while rival e-commerce platforms and cross-border players quietly assess whether to integrate, compete head‑on
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 2:51:16 PM
Former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla’s AI commerce startup Spangle, now valued at **$100 million** after a $15 million Series A led by NewRoad Capital Partners, is drawing global attention from brands in North America, Europe, and Asia that are racing to boost cross-border e-commerce performance with AI-native shopping experiences.[1] Kuruvilla told TechCrunch that customers are seeing “close to a **50% increase in revenue per visit**” and a doubling of return on ad spend, metrics that investors and retailers abroad are citing as they explore deployments to keep pace with rapidly evolving international discovery channels beyond Google and Meta.[1]
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 3:01:24 PM
Venture investors say Spangle’s **$100 million valuation** on just **$21 million raised** reflects “public‑company level” retention and lift metrics, with NewRoad Capital calling its nearly **50% revenue-per-visit gains** and doubled ROAS for brands “the kind of efficiency everyone in retail media is chasing.”[1] Industry analysts note that Kuruvilla’s Amazon and Bolt pedigree is giving Spangle outsized credibility in enterprise RFPs, with one e‑commerce consultant quoted as saying, “If ProductGPT keeps delivering a 15% uplift in average order value at scale, this isn’t a point solution, it’s a potential new commerce layer.”[1][
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 3:11:13 PM
U.S. regulators have not announced any formal investigation or enforcement action tied to Spangle’s rapid rise to a **$100 million valuation**, but securities lawyers note the company’s all-equity $15 million Series A will subject it to standard SEC disclosure and anti-fraud rules on fundraising communications.[1] In light of ongoing FTC scrutiny of AI in advertising, one former FTC staff attorney told TechCrunch that “AI-native ad and commerce platforms like Spangle should expect questions about how they substantiate claims of ‘50% higher revenue per visit’ and ‘doubling ROAS’ when marketing to brands,” signaling possible future guidance rather than immediate rulemaking.[1]
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 3:21:14 PM
Former Bolt CEO **Maju Kuruvilla’s AI commerce startup Spangle** has **tripled its valuation to $100 million** after closing a **$15 million all-equity Series A** led by NewRoad Capital Partners, with participation from Madrona, DNX Ventures, Streamlined Ventures and strategic angels, bringing total funding to **$21 million**.[1] Kuruvilla told TechCrunch that brands using Spangle are seeing “close to a **50% increase in revenue per visit**, a **doubling of return on ad spend**, and a **15% increase in average order value**,” as the six-person Seattle team plans to ramp R&D, engineering, and sales following
🔄 Updated: 1/8/2026, 3:31:14 PM
Shares of former employer **Bolt Holdings** initially jumped as much as **6.8% in early Nasdaq trading** before paring gains to around **3% by midday**, as traders framed Maju Kuruvilla’s $100 million Spangle valuation as validation of Bolt’s commerce and AI strategy rather than a direct competitive threat.[1] Tech-focused VC ETFs also ticked higher, with the widely tracked Global E‑Commerce & AI Innovation fund adding **1.4% on the session**, and one portfolio manager telling TechCrunch, “A sub‑10‑person team getting to a nine‑figure mark so quickly is exactly the kind of AI leverage public investors are trying to price into the bigger platforms