Awesome Motive has acquired Drip, an email marketing and automation platform, and Sleeknote, a conversion optimization tool. Mogens Møller, CEO of Drip, and Patrick Moog, CTO of Sleeknote, will continue leading both businesses alongside their existing leadership team.
The vision and future roadmap
Syed Balkhi, in his X announcement, described his approach to acquisitions, saying ” I don’t have a sophisticated acquisition strategy. We generally buy businesses that we already use to make us money. I’ve pulled up Drip’s revenue dashboard more times than I’d like to admit, so I know exactly what a good email and SMS setup brings in.”
He also said that he had followed Drip since its early days, when Rob Walling first started the company, and that he had been one of Drip’s top affiliates.
Drip currently serves more than 6,000 brands, which have generated over $1.5 billion in revenue through Drip emails, according to Balkhi. He emphasized that the figure represents revenue rather than impressions or engagement.
Mogens Møller said he and Syed Balkhi had discussed Drip’s past and future for several months before reaching an agreement on the acquisition. He said Drip was looking for a partner to support its next phase of growth and found that in Awesome Motive, “They share our passion for helping small businesses succeed, and bring years of experience building great software products that customers love”.
Balkhi also discussed the role of email and SMS marketing as businesses adapt to changes in online discovery and advertising. He pointed to rising advertising costs, declining social traffic, and changes brought by AI, “Your email list and your SMS list are the only assets that nobody can take away from you. They’re not rented, they’re YOURS. And in the AI era, that matters more than it ever has”.
Balkhi said his goal is to make Drip the best email and SMS marketing platform for the AI era and make marketing automation easier and more affordable for small businesses.
Drip already offers a free MCP connector on every plan, allowing users to connect AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude to their accounts and ask questions about customer data. Users can also use the connector to draft and schedule campaigns.
Balkhi outlined plans to work with Drip on its product roadmap, including deeper WordPress and WooCommerce integrations, additional AI-powered features, and closer connections with other Awesome Motive products such as WPForms and OptinMonster.