HubSpot vs StayinFront

Zendesk Names Rachita Sundar as CFO

Zendesk announced the appointment of Rachita Sundar as Chief Financial Officer, effective September 28, 2026. Sundar, who brings over 20 years of experience in finance and operations at technology companies including Microsoft Azure, HubSpot, and Qualtrics, succeeds Julie Swinney, who transitions to Chief Administrative Officer and executive sponsor of Zendesk's Employee Service business. At Qualtrics, Sundar helped finance and close the $6.75 billion acquisition of Press Ganey Forsta. CEO Tom Eggemeier highlighted her financial rigor and operational expertise as Zendesk scales toward a multi-billion-dollar AI business.

• Rachita Sundar appointed CFO of Zendesk, effective September 28, 2026.
• Sundar has over 20 years of experience at Microsoft Azure, HubSpot, and Qualtrics.
• At Qualtrics, Sundar helped finance and close the $6.75 billion acquisition of Press Ganey Forsta.

Convelly Launches AI Platform for SME Customer Communication

Viennese startup Convelly has launched a platform for small and medium-sized service businesses that integrates customer communication, sales, and appointment booking into a single application. The AI-powered platform consolidates messages from multiple digital channels into a shared inbox, with a customer-facing AI assistant that handles inquiries, suggests appointment times, and records bookings. The internal assistant 'Elly' can execute tasks described in natural language. Convelly runs on open language models hosted on servers in Germany, emphasizing data sovereignty for EU-based businesses. The platform is available as a web app and on iOS/Android, in German, English, and Arabic. The company faces strong competition from established players like HubSpot and Zendesk, as well as specialized messaging platforms like Superchat, but differentiates itself with open models and European hosting. No pricing or funding details were disclosed.

• Convelly launched its AI platform for SME customer communication on September 25, 2026.
• The platform uses open language models hosted on servers in Germany.
• Convelly is available as a web app and for iPhone and Android.

Marketo Co-founder Launches AI Marketing Automation Platform Phave

Jon Miller, co-founder of Marketo and Engagio, together with Nick Bonfiglio, formerly head of product and engineering at Marketo, has launched Phave, an AI-powered marketing automation platform for enterprise B2B organizations. After two years in stealth, Phave reached general availability in August 2026 and is now used by 10 companies. Designed to replace legacy MAPs like Marketo, Pardot, Eloqua, and HubSpot, Phave's intelligence engine, Maestro, generates personalized 'Playlists' that dynamically sequence marketing touches based on real-time data, objectives, and governance. The platform treats contacts, accounts, and buying groups as first-class objects, supports natural language configuration, and offers headless access via MCP (exposing 319 tools) and REST API. In an independent evaluation against 481 requirements, Phave scored 2.97, outperforming HubSpot (2.46) and Marketo (2.38). Early enterprise customers include SambaNova, SPS Commerce, mabl, Servion, and Hypha.

• Jon Miller and Nick Bonfiglio founded Phave, an AI-powered B2B marketing automation platform.
• Phave emerged from stealth and reached general availability in August 2026, currently serving 10 companies.
• Phave uses AI reasoning models (via Maestro) and 'Playlists' to personalize and sequence marketing actions.

StayinFront Announces New Partnerships, Executive Appointments, and Product Renaming

StayinFront announced a multi-year licensing agreement with a global cleaning and household goods leader in LATAM, the appointment of Fraser Neil as Commercial & Strategic Director EMEA, expansion of a snack food partnership in France, and promotion of Aaron Eccleston to Managing Director APAC. Additionally, the Interactive Shelf product has been renamed to Shelf Builder.