ThriveCart acquires VBOUT, adds native email, CRM & AI marketing automation to its creator platform
VBOUT joins ThriveCart, adding integrated marketing automation and CRM for digital entrepreneurs.
ThriveCart, an all-in-one creator commerce and learning platform, has acquired VBOUT, a marketing automation provider, to bring native email, CRM, and AI-powered marketing automation directly into its ecosystem. This move aims to unify commerce, learning, and lifecycle growth tools for creators, coaches, and digital entrepreneurs.
With this acquisition, ThriveCart users can now access integrated automation features that connect directly to course enrollments, memberships, and revenue events. The update is positioned as a step toward reducing the need for fragmented tech stacks among creator businesses.
Short on time?
Here’s a quick look at what’s inside:
- Who are ThriveCart and VBOUT, and what’s the angle here?
- What does the acquisition add for marketers?
- How does this fit into the competitive landscape?
- What marketers should know
Who are ThriveCart and VBOUT, and what’s the angle here?
ThriveCart is a US-based platform serving over 75,000 businesses, offering tools for selling digital products, managing memberships, and delivering online courses. Its platform combines checkout, sales funnels, subscription management, affiliate marketing, and a built-in learning management system. ThriveCart reports more than $8 billion in sales processed, over 70 million transactions, and 12 million student enrollments.
VBOUT, founded in New York, is a marketing automation platform focused on helping businesses automate email campaigns, manage leads, and analyze marketing performance. The company reported $3.1 million in revenue in 2024 and is used by SMBs and marketing agencies for multi-channel campaign management.
The acquisition brings VBOUT’s AI-enriched automation and CRM capabilities into ThriveCart’s creator-focused ecosystem, aiming to make automation “commerce-aware and learning-aware,” according to ThriveCart CEO Ismael Wrixen.
Patrecia Meliana
What does the acquisition add for marketers?
With VBOUT now part of ThriveCart, marketers using the platform gain access to:
- Native email marketing and CRM: No need for third-party integrations to manage campaigns or customer data.
- AI-powered automation: Automated workflows can be triggered by real-time events such as purchases, enrollments, subscription changes, failed payments, webinar attendance, and student engagement.
- Behavioral segmentation and campaign orchestration: Marketers can segment audiences and automate journeys based on actual customer and revenue behavior within the ThriveCart ecosystem.
For course creators, coaches, and membership operators, this means a more unified workflow—reducing the need to juggle multiple disconnected tools for sales, learning, and marketing automation.
How does this fit into the competitive landscape?
The ecommerce marketing technology and marketing automation categories are highly competitive, with platforms like ClickFunnels, SamCart, Kartra, and PayKickStart also targeting creators and SMBs. Many of these platforms are moving toward unified solutions that combine sales, learning, and automation features.
ThriveCart’s move to integrate VBOUT’s automation natively is in line with broader trends toward AI marketing automation and workflow simplification. The goal is to differentiate by offering a single platform that covers the full lifecycle—from checkout to course delivery to ongoing engagement.
What marketers should know
- Unified platform advantage: Marketers can manage sales, learning, and marketing automation from a single dashboard, reducing operational complexity.
- Commerce-aware automation: Automated campaigns can now respond to real-time revenue and engagement signals, enabling smarter customer journeys.
- Competitive positioning: As more platforms consolidate features, marketers should evaluate which ecosystems offer the most seamless workflows and automation depth for their needs.
- Trend alignment: The integration reflects ongoing trends in AI-driven marketing automation and the push for unified creator tech stacks.
