Reply Next, an AI platform for managing the digital presence of businesses with multiple locations, has raised €400,000 in pre-seed funding. The round was led by independent investment firm 4Founders Capital, with participation from business angels including Juanjo Mostazo and David Alcobero.

Founded by telecommunications engineer Miguel Peñate, Reply Next allows brands with hundreds or thousands of physical locations to manage and optimise their digital presence from a single place.

The company is targeting the growing volume of digital interactions associated with individual locations. Reviews, ratings, messages, searches and recommendations across platforms including Google Maps, Booking, the App Store and Google Play, as well as AI-powered search engines, generate information about each location that is not always translated into business actions.

Nine out of ten companies don't know how much revenue their stores generate through Google Maps, 70% of brands don't respond to users on public channels, and fewer than 10% of businesses appear in AI-powered search engine results. Reply Next was created to close this gap and give each location the intelligence it needs to compete,

said Miguel Peñate, founder and CEO of Reply Next.

Reply Next brings information and digital interactions associated with each location into a single platform. Its AI agents can respond to customers, identify issues and opportunities, monitor competitors and carry out tasks automatically according to each brand's guidelines.

The company aims to move beyond managing individual interactions by providing a system that can identify opportunities, anticipate problems and take action to improve a location's visibility, attract customers and increase revenue.

The funding will be used to strengthen Reply Next's technology and sales teams, accelerate product development and develop new AI agents designed to automate processes and decisions for brands.