By: Nate Bek and Kirby Winfield
Today we are excited to announce our investment in Limelight, the AI platform that automates personality-led growth for B2B companies. Ascend invested in the $2 million seed round, joining a strong group that includes lead investor SNR Capital and other early supporters.
B2B buying behavior is shifting faster than most marketing teams can keep up with. Paid channels are saturated and CAC is rising. Buyers, especially younger ones, trust individual voices more than corporate messaging. The problem is that influencer work in B2B is still stitched together with spreadsheets, DMs, and guesswork. Brands want scale, but the operational overhead keeps the channel out of reach.
The Limelight platform automates creator discovery, activation, and ROI measurement. It gives B2B teams a system of record for personality-led growth. Early traction is strong, with customers seeing measurable improvements in conversion and lead quality. The platform hits the rare balance of usability, depth, and clear business impact.
What makes Limelight more compelling is the vision beyond the current product. The team is building an autonomous B2B marketing workforce composed entirely of AI agents. The first phase automates influencer matching and campaign operations. The next phases expand into content creation, distribution, and lead nurturing. It is a practical roadmap that starts with obvious pain points and ladders into a broader operating system for B2B growth.
The founding team is exceptional. CEO David Walsh is a three-time founder with two exits and deep experience leading B2B go-to-market teams. He’s also an influencer in his own right with nearly 40,000 LinkedIn followers. CTO Youngjae Ji brings more than 20 years of engineering experience and is widely regarded as a top one percent technical talent, something Uber’s CTO underscored in his endorsement.
B2B digital ad spend is $39 billion, but only a small share goes to influencer and UGC channels, yet this niche is projected to grow several times over in the next few years. The supply side is swelling, with more than 18 million professionals using LinkedIn’s creator tools. Brands are searching for efficient channels as paid search economics decline.
Competition will intensify, but the company has advantages that generalist players cannot match. The two-sided marketplace creates defensibility. The platform collects performance data across creators and campaigns, which reinforces matching accuracy. Most marketing tools today produce words. Limelight takes responsibility for outcomes.
We invested because Limelight is building the infrastructure behind a structural shift in B2B buying. SNR Capital is a great co-investor to build alongside, and their conviction reinforces the scale of the opportunity.
We are proud to back the Limelight team from day one.