🟡 Notable

Klaviyo Acquires Elias Torres' Agency To Lead AI Agents

recodeai Staff · Aug 6, 2026 · Funding · 2 min read
The story

The e-commerce marketing platform is bringing back a familiar founder as chief product officer to run its AI agent strategy.

Klaviyo has acquired Agency, the startup founded by serial entrepreneur Elias Torres, in a deal that installs Torres as the company's new chief product officer. He'll be responsible for building out Klaviyo's AI agent capabilities for merchants.

Torres has a long history with Klaviyo's leadership circle, making this as much a talent acquisition as a product one. The deal signals Klaviyo is betting agents, not just automation workflows, will define the next phase of e-commerce marketing tools.

Why it matters

Acqui-hires of this kind show where commerce platforms think the margin is: agentic products that reduce headcount for merchants running email, SMS, and retention campaigns. Expect competitors to respond with their own agent-focused M&A rather than build from scratch.

Sources: TechCrunch

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