# Botsi

Aiolum story: https://aiolum.com/story/botsi/ · added 2026-11-12 · updated 2026-11-12

**In short.** Botsi (AI pricing and paywall optimization for subscription mobile apps, United States): Live with paid plans, November 2026. Evidence grade E: no revenue figure was checked. Team: 3 co-founders, a CTO and a lead machine-learning engineer named in September 2026; the company calls itself a small, senior team. Launched March 2025; still running.

AI pricing and paywall optimization for subscription mobile apps · United States · AI-native · team of 2 to 10 · still running · group: Sales and lead follow-up

- Outcome: Live with paid plans, November 2026 (evidence grade of the headline number: E; no revenue figure)
- Launch: March 2025; months from launch to the outcome: 20
- Team: 3 co-founders, a CTO and a lead machine-learning engineer named in September 2026; the company calls itself a small, senior team
- Outside funding: US$1.5M pre-seed, September 2026 (Hypepotamus)
- Main factor: Domain expertise
- Meters, 1 to 4: evidence strength 1, copyable pattern 2, capital needed 2
- Tags: AI-native, Small team, Funded, Running, B2B, Mobile apps

Links:

- Visit botsi.com: https://www.botsi.com/

**The product.** A service that decides which price, trial or paywall each user of a subscription mobile app sees. The company trains one machine-learning model per app and returns the choice through an API. Apps keep their own paywall tools.

**Why it worked.** The founders sell per-user pricing to subscription apps, a field where they worked before. The company says one price for everyone leaves most users unconverted, and that its model picks among offers the app already approved. A press piece names two apps as early customers.

Evidence grades: A = disclosed by a public company, a filing or a payment processor, or verified by one; B = two or more independent reports agree, or a journalist confirmed it; C = a founder claim that no one else verified; D = reported, not verified: one founder claim or a third-party estimate with no second source; E = no revenue figure found, so the headline is a non-money fact and the other facts carry their own grades; calc = computed on this page from graded facts.

## Summary

Botsi is a pricing service for subscription mobile apps. A paywall is the screen where an app asks the user to subscribe. Botsi's model reads signals such as device, country and in-app behavior. It then picks one of the prices or trials that the app already created in the Apple or Google store.

Jason Schubert, Jacob Rushfinn and William Schubert are the three co-founders named on the company page. Hypepotamus reported on 9 September 2026 that Jason Schubert earlier led inBrain.ai, a survey company that Dynata acquired in 2021. The company says it was founded in 2024, and its terms are dated 13 March 2025.

No revenue figure was found in any downloaded source, so this story is grade E. What was checked is a published starting price, a payment model, and two customers named by a press piece. That customers pay is the company's own statement.

## Why did Botsi work?

### The founders had worked on app monetization before

The company page says Jacob Rushfinn spent his career in subscription growth, and that Jason Schubert built inBrain.ai and Apps That Pay. Hypepotamus says inBrain.ai was acquired by Dynata in 2021. These are the companies' statements about their own people.

### It adds a decision layer on top of the paywall tools apps already use

The company says apps keep their paywall builder and their store products. Botsi returns which approved offer to show to which user through an API, and the purchase still completes in the store. The home page says integration "typically takes under a day".

### It charges a fixed monthly bracket and promises no payment without uplift

The home page says Botsi charges a fixed bracket, not a share of revenue. The pricing page says that without a measurable revenue uplift the customer does not pay. An archived January 2026 price list still used a percentage of revenue.

## How it was built

These details come from the company's pages and are grade C. No source describes the code base.

- One machine-learning model is trained for each app, on that app's own signals such as device, country and in-app behavior, the home page says.
- The Sleepiest case study describes a causal uplift model with Bayesian confidence. When the model is unsure, it samples offers with a method named Thompson sampling.
- A random 10% of traffic keeps seeing the original paywall as a holdout, the Sleepiest case study says. The gap between the two groups is the reported lift.
- The site loads images from a Bunny content network host, and its forms use Cloudflare Turnstile against spam, the privacy policy says.

Sources: [6, 2, 15]

## Who tried this before Botsi, and why did they fail?

Three companies in a database of failed startups promised to raise a business's sales by personalizing what each customer sees. The values below are from that database, read on 12 November 2026, and are not independently verified.

The failed startups come from our database of dead startups, retold here in our own words; Its entries are AI-assisted summaries of public sources, so they carry no evidence grade.

### Appiterate (2013 to 2015; funding US$500K; cause: Competition)

- Promise: Personalized notifications from past app activity, to raise ecommerce sales.
- Why it died: The record says larger mobile-marketing vendors and newer entrants with stronger machine learning outcompeted it.
- Record: 

### Wantful (2011 to 2013; funding US$5.4M; cause: Scaling)

- Promise: Gift recommendations tailored to the recipient's tastes.
- Why it died: The record says it could not widen a personalized gift model into a broader shop without losing what made it different.
- Record: 

### Toplyne (2021 to 2024; funding US$15M; cause: Market timing)

- Promise: Behavioral data and AI to predict which free users would convert to paid.
- Why it died: The record says it died from market timing and an eroding product-market fit, and that it built a nice-to-have.
- Record: 

## What changed

Each of the three predicted what a person would buy and sold the prediction as a separate product. The records say they lost to larger vendors or to a market that moved. Botsi is also a separate layer, and the three records show that risk.

Two things differ in what the sources show. Botsi sits inside the paywall of the customer's own app, and it prices its service with a payment guarantee. Whether that keeps customers is not shown by any source.

## Can one person copy Botsi now?

**Verdict: The structure, yes. The proof, not yet.**

A small team can copy the pattern: one measurable number, a model trained per customer, and a promise to charge only for a measured result. No source shows how much this company earns.

1. Pick one number the buyer already tracks, such as revenue per paywall view.
2. Run the model against a holdout, so the customer can see the difference.
3. Plug into the tools the buyer already has, so setup takes days.
4. Publish a starting price on the page.

**What is still open.** Per-customer models for another decision that apps repeat: trial length, discount timing, or which feature to show first.

## How much revenue does Botsi make? The numbers, graded

A pricing service for subscription apps with a published starting price and two named customers; no revenue figure is published

| Fact | Value | Grade | Note | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price, November 2026 | US$399 a month for Pro; Enterprise on request | C | Company pricing page, read 12 November 2026: "Pro Most Popular Starting at $ 399 /mo". Enterprise shows "Contact Us". | [1] |
| How the company charges | a fixed subscription bracket, not a share of revenue | C | Company home page: "Botsi charges a fixed subscription bracket, never a percentage of what you earn." An archived pricing page of 13 January 2026 still showed 1% and 1.2% of revenue. | [2, 11] |
| Performance guarantee | no measurable uplift, no payment | C | Company pricing page: "If you don't see a revenue uplift, you don't pay." The company states this; no source shows a refund or a test of it. | [1] |
| Company founded | 2024 | C | Company newsroom: "Founded 2024". The structured data of the home page gives foundingDate 2024. Botsi Inc. is described in the terms as a Delaware corporation. | [4, 2, 9] |
| Earlier version of the site | a waiting-list page with 8+ products, January 2025 | C | Archived home page of 18 January 2025: "Botsi is coming soon!" and "Join 500+ App studios and indie devs waiting for the Botsi launch!". The page then offered a broad platform with SDK, ASO, paywall builder and AI pricing. | [10] |
| Launch | 2025 | C | The terms of service are "Effective as of March 13, 2025". Hypepotamus wrote on 9 September 2026 that the platform "launched last year". No source gives a launch day. | [9, 5] |
| Team | 3 co-founders, a CTO and a lead machine-learning engineer | D | Hypepotamus names five people. The company page names the three co-founders and the CTO and calls the company "a small, senior team of operators and engineers". | [5, 3] |
| Funding | US$1.5M pre-seed, September 2026 | D | Hypepotamus, 9 September 2026, retelling the company's announcement. Named investors: Plain Sight Capital, Telegraph Hill and several angels. No filing was read. | [5] |
| Customers named by press | Fitness AI and Sleepiest | D | Hypepotamus: "Early Botsi adopters include Fitness AI, Sleepiest, and a handful of other companies." Both also have case studies on the company site. | [5, 8] |
| A customer result, undated | +20% subscriber ARPU and an estimated +US$185,000 for Sleepiest | C | The company's own Sleepiest case study says: "+20% subscriber ARPU and an estimated +$185K incremental revenue", measured against a 10% holdout. It gives no date. | [6] |
| Time from the terms date to November 2026 | 20 months | calc | Calculated: March 2025 to November 2026, counted by calendar month. | [9] |

How to read this table: a grade C value is what the company says on its own pages. A grade D value comes from a news piece that retells a founder. A "calc" value (grade X) was computed on this page. No value comes from a payment processor, a filing or a journalist's check of documents.

## Pricing

Botsi plans on the company's pricing page, read 12 November 2026 (grade C)

| Plan | Per month, billed yearly (US$) | Per month, billed monthly (US$) | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pro |  | from 399 | one custom-trained model for 1 app, per-user optimization |
| Enterprise | custom | custom | unlimited AI pricing models, custom training, support all day |

The page shows one price, "Starting at $ 399 /mo", for the Pro plan, with no yearly price. The Enterprise plan is priced on request. The page says that without a measurable revenue uplift the customer does not pay. An archived copy of 13 January 2026 showed a different model. It had a Free plan up to US$10,000 of revenue. Pro cost 1% of revenue with a US$99 minimum. Pro+ cost 1.2% with a US$499 minimum.

## When did Botsi launch, and how did it grow? Timeline

From a waiting-list page in January 2025 to a price list and a US$1.5M pre-seed round in 2026. Each entry carries its grade.

- **2024** (grade C [4, 2]): The company says it was founded in 2024. The newsroom and the structured data of the home page both give this year.
- **18 January 2025** (grade C [10]): The archived home page says Botsi is coming soon and has 500+ studios on a waiting list. It lists 8+ products in one platform.
- **13 March 2025** (grade C [9]): The terms of service take effect. They name Botsi Inc., a Delaware corporation.
- **13 January 2026** (grade C [11]): An archived pricing page shows a Free plan up to US$10,000 of revenue, Pro at 1% of revenue and Pro+ at 1.2% of revenue.
- **9 September 2026** (grade D [5]): Hypepotamus reports a US$1.5M pre-seed round and names Fitness AI and Sleepiest as early adopters.
- **12 November 2026** (grade C [1, 2]): The pricing page shows Pro from US$399 a month with a fixed bracket and a performance guarantee.

## What could go wrong for Botsi?

- **What is not verified.** No revenue figure was found. What was looked for: a payment-processor profile, a founder interview, a filing. A reader could ask the company for a customer reference. The company says customers pay and lists a starting price. No independent source confirms that Fitness AI or Sleepiest pay. The GrepBeat piece of October 2025, listed on the newsroom, could not be read because its site answered 403. The US$185,000 figure is the company's own estimate.
- **Logo row, counters, badges and testimonials.** The home page shows a row of 14 app names under the heading "The most ambitious subscription apps grow revenue with Botsi." Only Fitness AI and Sleepiest have a full case study. Four other customer pages that were read say "Full case study coming soon". One name in the row is "abstrakt". The company page says two co-founders also cofounded Abstrakt Capital. No source says whether the two are the same. The counters "95% never pay", "+75%" and "99% of tech setups" have no source. The page says "SOC 2 compliant", and the Responsible Pricing page says "SOC 2 Type II compliant". The FAQ offers the report under a non-disclosure agreement; none was read. The two named testimonials appear unchanged on the case-study pages. No search for reuse elsewhere could be made.
- **Different users can see different prices.** The product shows different users different prices from a set the app approved. The company says it uses no age, gender or other demographic data. It says Apple and Google do not endorse it. No source tests these statements.
- **Dates and location differ.** Hypepotamus calls Botsi an Atlanta company. The company says it is based in New York and moved from Charlotte in 2026. The launch year rests on the terms date and one press sentence.

## Sources

1. Botsi pricing page, read 12 November 2026 — https://www.botsi.com/pricing (grade C). Read in full. Source for the starting price, the Enterprise plan and the guarantee.
2. Botsi home page, read 12 November 2026 — https://www.botsi.com/ (grade C). Read in full. Source for how the product works, the fixed bracket, the logo row and counters, and the founding year in structured data.
3. Botsi company page, read 12 November 2026 — https://www.botsi.com/company (grade C). Read in full. Source for the leadership, the founders' earlier companies and the location.
4. Botsi newsroom, read 12 November 2026 — https://www.botsi.com/newsroom (grade C). Read in full. Source for the founding year, the boilerplate and the list of coverage.
5. Hypepotamus, 9 September 2026: Atlanta Startup Botsi Raises Pre-Seed To Personalize Subscription Pricing With AI — https://www.hypepotamus.com/botsi-ai-subscription-pricing-pre-seed/ (grade D). Read in full. Press piece by Maija Ehlinger. Source for the round, the investors, the team, the named customers and the launch year.
6. Botsi case study: How Sleepiest lifted subscriber ARPU by 20% with Botsi — https://www.botsi.com/customers/sleepiest (grade C). Read in full. Company-written case study with no date.
7. Botsi case study: How Fitness AI lifted revenue per user with Botsi — https://www.botsi.com/customers/fitness-ai (grade C). Read in full. Company-written case study with no figures.
8. Botsi customers page, read 12 November 2026 — https://www.botsi.com/customers (grade C). Read in full. Lists the two case studies and three counters.
9. Botsi Terms of Service, effective 13 March 2025 — https://www.botsi.com/terms (grade C). Read the opening and the sections on fees and term. Source for the effective date and the legal entity.
10. Internet Archive copy of the Botsi home page, 18 January 2025 — https://web.archive.org/web/20250118185400/https://www.botsi.com/ (grade C). Read in full. Source for the waiting-list notice and the earlier platform offer.
11. Internet Archive copy of the Botsi pricing page, 13 January 2026 — https://web.archive.org/web/20260113094347/https://www.botsi.com/pricing (grade C). Read the pricing section. Source for the percentage-of-revenue plans.
12. Botsi Responsible Pricing page, read 12 November 2026 — https://www.botsi.com/responsible-pricing (grade C). Read in full. Source for the data and range statements and the SOC 2 Type II claim.
13. Botsi FAQ, read 12 November 2026 — https://www.botsi.com/faq (grade C). Read the sections on Apple and Google, compliance and the holdout.
14. Botsi blog index, read 12 November 2026 — https://www.botsi.com/blog (grade C). Read in full. Checked who the product is marketed to: subscription app teams, not children.
15. Botsi Privacy Policy, effective 13 March 2025 — https://www.botsi.com/privacy (grade C). Read the sections on forms and on children. Source for Cloudflare Turnstile and the age statement.
16. Database of failed startups, local export — /method/#dead (grade C). Record pages read on the website on 12 November 2026. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. Source for the failed predecessors.

Contact: aiolum@livyden.com. Run Botsi? Send corrections or a verified figure to aiolum@livyden.com (subject: Correction: Botsi).