The shift from traditional e-commerce to AI-driven shopping is creating a fundamental infrastructure problem: while Google, Amazon, and ChatGPT command the agentic commerce channel through proprietary product data, independent developers and merchants lack access to the universal product intelligence needed to build competitive AI shopping experiences. McKinsey projects that agentic commerce could generate $1T in US retail revenue by the end of the decade, yet the infrastructure to support this market remains concentrated in the hands of a few tech giants. Channel3 is building the neutral layer that changes this dynamic, providing developers and merchants with a real-time, universal product database covering 50 million products across tens of thousands of brands. Using multimodal AI to match products across merchants, recognize variants, and extract rich attributes, Channel3 enables any developer to build AI shopping experiences with built-in affiliate monetization, while giving merchants frictionless distribution into this emerging channel. The company already powers hundreds of developers building AI stylists, interior design tools, and shopping assistants, processing product data through compute-intensive AI that understands products the way a person would.
AlleyWatch sat down with Channel3 CEO and cofounder Alexander Schiff to learn more about the business, the founder’s journey from building an AI tutor to creating universal product infrastructure, and the company’s recent $6M Seed round that brings Channel3’s total funding to $6M.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We raised a $6 million Seed round led by Matrix, with participation from Ludlow Ventures, Paul Graham, Sri Batchu (former CMO of TheRealReal), and Matteo Franceschetti (founder of EightSleep).
Tell us about the product or service that Channel3 offers.
Channel3 provides a real-time, universal product database that connects every product, variant, attribute and merchant offer across the web. Developers and merchants use Channel3’s API to power AI-driven shopping experiences, enabling any app or agent to discover, compare, and route users to products instantly.
What inspired the start of Channel3?
I met George Lawrence at Duke University, where we cofounded our first startup together. We cofounded Channel3 to solve a growing pain point in AI shopping. I first recognized the problem while building an AI tutor that could recommend products and earn affiliate revenue, realizing no existing solution could support this kind of agentic shopping.
How is Channel3 different?
Channel3 gives developers and merchants AI-ready access to products across the internet, something only Google, Amazon, and ChatGPT currently own. Channel3 is neutral, storefront-agnostic, real-time, and powered by multimodal AI models that match products, link variants, extract attributes, and keep data continuously updated.
What market does Channel3 target and how big is it?
Channel3 targets the rapidly growing agentic commerce market such as AI applications and agents that help consumers find, compare, and buy products. McKinsey projects that agentic commerce could generate $1T in US retail revenue by the end of the decade, representing roughly one-third of all online sales.
What’s your business model?
We charge for calls to our API, and take a rev-share of commissions paid out on our platform
What was the funding process like?
Coming out of YC in summer 2025, we spoke with a number of investors who immediately understood the scale of what we’re building. Matrix stood out with a shared vision and the conviction to help us move fast, making them the right partner for our next chapter.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Quite the opposite of challenging. The process went smoothly, as we connected with numerous investors who truly aligned with our vision. The investors we met with saw the potential behind what we are building and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have moved as fast as we did to have this ready for the holiday shopping season.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Our lead investor, Kojo Osei of Matrix, shared that Channel3 is tackling a “generational opportunity” and building what he believes will become the foundational layer for the agentic commerce era. The team’s deep technical expertise and timing in an emerging massive market were key factors, according to Kojo.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Channel3 will use its funding to:
Expand its engineering team
Invest further in compute-intensive AI
Continue scaling its real-time product catalog beyond the existing 50 million products
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Channel3 plans to accelerate development of its universal product graph, expand merchant participation, and further establish itself as the neutral infrastructure layer powering AI-driven commerce.
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