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Proactive AI customer support that engages high-value users

Winter 2026Founded 20252 peopleSan Francisco, CA, USA
AI insightcan contain mistakes
Proactive AI Customer SupportSaaSCompanies with high-value customersMedium competition
Moat
iMessage outbound capability and authentic engagement quality create differentiation.
Key risk
SMS/messaging regulations may constrain outbound; customer fatigue from over-engagement.
Why now
Customer support cost pressures and retention focus drive proactive engagement demand.
Competitors
Drift, Intercom, custom AI engagement

About

Proactive AI customer support that engages high-value users. By using LLMโ€™s to engage customers in an authentic way before they reach out to customer support we minimize support tickets, build relationships and deliver upsells. We are the only AI agent on the market with sufficient engagement to be allowed to send iMessages outbound.

Founders ยท 2

Ilya Valmianski
Ilya ValmianskiCo-Founder/CEO

Co-Founder Return Signals. 2x founder. Previously built AI patient intake at Kaiser Permanente, medical ChatGPT before ChatGPT at Curai Health, and co-founded MDandMe. Physics PhD.

Alejandro Zaniolo
Alejandro ZanioloFounder

Co-founder at Return Signals. I like building things from the ground up. Previously helped take two startups from 0 - 1: one was acquired by Blueground, and another grew 6x YoY to $40M ARR and became profitable by the time I left.

Launch

Launched on Y Combinator ยท Feb 2026
View launch post โ†—

AI-powered post-purchase messaging that reduces returns and increases repeat purchases for e-commerce brands.

Return Signals builds an AI-powered luxury concierge that proactively messages customers via SMS after delivery to reduce returns and boost lifetime value for e-commerce brands. It targets brands with high return rates and reports 5โ€“10% margin uplift, 70% exchange conversion, high response rates, and 95% positive sentiment, with analytics for brand teams.

Formerly โ€œMaterial Modelโ€, โ€œReturn Signalsโ€

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