A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting start-ups globally
RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – MARKETING TECH
- Engagio, an account based marketing platform has raised $22M in Series B funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners. Link
- Marketing platform Boomtrain has acquired Nudgespot for creating a communication platform, to be called Boomtrain Messenger. Link
- Smooch has raised $7.6M in Seed funding round to expand its Conversation Cloud. Link
- Oslo-based Socius, a social storytelling and curation tool, has raised $415k from 500 startups and angel investor Raa Invest AS. Link
- Mobile app search company Quixey raises $30M in debt funding. Link
- Insert, an automated in-app marketing platform, has raised $10M in Series A financing, led by Battery Ventures. Link
- IZEA has acquired ZenContent for $4.5M in cash and equity to expand its custom content offering. Link
- Apptimize, an A/B testing platform for mobile apps, has secured $12.4 million in Series B financing to fuel continued global growth of its solution. Link
- LookBookHQ has raised $4M in Series A funding round led by Edison Partners, with participation from Hyde Park Venture Partners. Link
- Ceros, a SaaS based interactive content design platform, has raised $8 million in Series B funding led by Grotech Venture. Link
- Italy based proximity marketing startup NearIT has raised $1.68M in funding from Innowatio. Link
- LeadGenius has raised $10M in Series B Financing for expanding its Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Platform. Link
- Monotype has acquired Olapic, a user generated image marketing platform for $130M. Link
- Influential, a mobile first influencer marketing platform, has raised $5M In Series A funding round led by Capital Zed. Link
- Enterprise social media suite provider Sprinklr has raised $105M at a valuation of $1.8 B. Link
- Brandcast, a SaaS based code-free website builder platform has raised $13.9M in Series A financing round led by Shasta Ventures. Link
- Kiip, a mobile rewards startup, has raised $12M in Series C round led by North Atlantic Capital. Link
- Stealth WiFi and customer loyalty startup Zenreach has raised $30 million Series B in a round led by Founders Fund. Link
- Phrasee, an email subject line optimization platform, has raised $1.32M in Seed round. Link
- Attentive.ly, a social listening platform for identifying key influencers and driving engagement, has been acquired by Blackbaud. Link
SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND
Trapica Labs (2016, Tel Aviv) – Social Media based audience segmentation platform using machine learning and AI to optimize campaign performance in real time based on converted users.
Big Picture (2016, SF) – Web Analytics tool for marketers to track user actions such as clicks, form submissions, page scroll depth and video events.
LEADER BOARD – MARKETING TECH
Marketing Automation – Suite
Marketo (2006, San Mateo, IPO, Acq.) – Provides cloud-based software for automated marketing to engage visitors on multiple channels. Features include in-bound marketing, lead scoring and lead management, visitor tracking and CRM tools. Went public in 2013.
Salesforce (1999, SF, IPO) – SaaS platform for Marketing, sales and service operations. Offers customer data integration and engagement tools. Went public in 2004.
Hubspot (2006, Cambridge, IPO) – Offers an integrated platform which provides inbound marketing software for businesses. Features include lead management, landing page optimization, social integration and email marketing. Went public in 2014.
Email Marketing
Campaign Monitor (2004, Sydney, $250M) – Provides an email marketing platform with customizable templates, A/B testing, Dynamic Content, Social Sharing and mobile ready capabilities. Backed by Insight Venture Partners.
ReturnPath (1999, NYC, $97M) – Offers an email marketing solution that includes email optimization to ensure deliverability of emails, other features include inbox monitor, reputation monitor, inbox insight, inbox preview, email client monitor, and email fraud protection. Backed by BVP, Costanoa VC, Foundry Group, Vista Equity Partners and Union Square Ventures.
MailChimp (2001, Atlanta) – Provides an email marketing service to send email newsletters, manage subscriber lists, and track campaign performance. Offers integrations with systems such as PayPal, Google Analytics, Shopify, Magento and Salesforce.
Social Suite
Hootsuite (2008, Vancouver, $225M) – Social media management system for businesses and organizations to collaboratively launch and manage campaigns across multiple social networks. Backed by Insight Partners, Accel and Omers Ventures
Sprinklr (2008, NYC, $239M) – Full suite of social media management tools to post across social networks and measure engagement for enterprise. Backed by Battery, Iconiq and Intel Capital.
LiveWorld (1996, San Jose, IPO) – Services and software company that enables brands to enhance the customer experience in social media. Provides strategy, campaign management, content moderation, customer engagement, customer service, and social analytics and listening tools. Went public in 1999.
Campaign Management
Opal Labs (2010, Portland, $10M) – Planning, collaboration and management platform for brands to distribute marketing content across multiple social channels. Backed by Madrona Venture Group.
Buffer (2010, SF, $3.9M) – Platform to schedule social media posts to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn & Google+. Backed by RedSwan VC and Collaborative Fund.
Analytics
Adobe (1982, San Jose, IPO) – A comprehensive social media marketing platform that provides analytics on content performance and extracts customer intelligence. Went public in 1986.
Dataminr (2009, NYC, $180M) – Tools to extract value from social media for clients in the finance and government sectors. Backed by Fidelity, Venrock and Institutional Venture Partners.
Opera Solutions (2004, Jersey City, $122M) – Tools to extract and apply insights from complex data environments in the financial services, healthcare, travel, hospitality, retail, and telecommunications industries. Backed by Wipro, Tola Capital, SilverLake and Accel.
Social Monitoring
Brandwatch (2007, Brighton, $64M) – Media Monitoring tool to analyze and utilize social media conversations in marketing. Backed by Nauta Capital, Highland Capital Partners and Partech Ventures.
Social Monitoring – Competitive Intelligence
TrackMaven (2012, Washington DC, $22M) – Tools to automatically aggregate competitive intelligence data from paid, earned and owned media channels. Backed by NEA and Bowery Cap.
Social Monitoring – Brand Protection
Reputation.com (2006, RedWood City, $68M) – Tools to help businesses and individuals in improving search results, protect privacy, and get more positive customer reviews. Backed by August Capital, Jafco Ventures, KPCB, BVP and Insight Partners.
Customer Data Platform
Zeta interactive (2007, NYC, $207.5M) – Provides a marketing platform that unifies customer data from disparate sources for multi-channel engagement. Backed by Franklin Square Group, GCP Capital Partners, GSO Capital Partners and Madison Capital Funding.
Customer Experience Management
Medallia (2001, Palo Alto, $255M) – Customer Experience Management platform with tools to capture and understand customer feedback and act on it in real time. Backed by Sequoia Capital.
Content Marketing Suite
Newscred (2008, NYC, $87M) – Content marketing and syndication platform that connects publishers and brands. Backed by InterWest Partners, FTV Capital, Mayfield, FirstMark Capital and IA Ventures.
Seismic (2011, CA, $64.5M) – Enterprise sales enablement and content management softwareprovider. Backed by General Atlantic, Jackson Square Ventures and JMI Equity.
ScibbleLive (2008, Toronto, $59M) – End-to-End SaaS based content marketing platform to create, distribute and measure content. Backed by SummerHill, Rogers VP, BlueCloud Ventures and Georgian Partners.
Pulsepoint (2011, NYC, $43.5M) – Advertising technology platform that fuses programmatic targeting, distribution and optimization with content marketing. Backed by SVB, DFJ, VantagePoint Capital and Updata Partners.
Content Creation
Persado (2012, NYC, $66M) – Email Content Optimization platform using Machine Learning. Backed by American Express Ventures, Bain Capital, Citi Ventures and StarVest Partners.
Narrative Science (2010, Chicago, $29M) – Analyzes data and transforms it into narrative reports using NLP and Machine Learning. Backed by Battery, Sapphire and Jump Capital.
Captora (2012, Mountain View, $27M) – Platform to identify product demand and push relevant content. Backed by Bain Capital and NEA.
Skyword (2010, Boston, $25.5M) – Marketplace for influential writers, designers, and videographers. Backed by Cox Media Group and Progress Ventures.
Content Curation
Martini Media (2008, NYC, $41M, Acq.) – Digital media and content Marketing platform for engaging the Affluent and the Influential. Backed by Venrock, Granite Ventures, Reed Elsevier Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank. Acquired by Evolve Media in 2015.
Ahalogy (2012, Cincinnati, $16M) – Platform to source, optimize and publish content on Pinterest. Backed by CincyTech, North Coast Angel Fund, Vine St. Ventures, The Brandery, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Origin Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank and JobsOhio.
Content Workflow
Percolate (2011, NYC, $74.5M) – SaaS platform for planning, execution and publishing marketing campaigns. Backed by LSVP, Sequoia, GGV, First Round and Lerer Hippeau Ventures.
Kapost (2010, Boulder, $19M) – SaaS based workflow management system for creating and pushing branded content. Backed by Access VP, Cue Ball, Iron Gate and Salesforce Ventures.
Content Distribution
ShareThis (2007, Palo Alto, $61M) – Analyses social sharing trends across sites and provides tools for advertisers to run targeted campaigns. Backed byJump Capital and DFJ.
User Generated Content
Livefyre (2009, SF, $67M, Acq.) – Community engagement tools through User Generated Content. Backed by USVP, Greycroft, Salesforce, Adobe and Cue Ball. Acquired by Adobe in May 2016.
ThisMoment (2008, SF, $52M) – End-to-End Cloud Based Content Marketing platform for user-generated content. Backed by Sierra Ventures, Trident Capital and UMC Capital.
Content Analytics
Visible Measures (2005, Boston, $80M) – Platform that provides Video Content Performance Analytics and Campaign Management. Backed by Advance Publications, Common fund, DAG Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Northgate.
BrightEdge (2007, San Mateo, $62M) – Offers real-time measurement of content engagement across digital channels. Backed by Insight VP, Altos Ventures, Battery Ventures, Illuminate Ventures and Intel Capital.
Conversion Rate Optimization
Optimizely (2010, SF, $146M) – Website optimization platform providing A/B and multivariate testing. Lets users make dynamic changes to their websites, test the variations to live traffic and gather immediate results. Backed by Battery Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Index Ventures, Benchmark, Correlation Ventures, Citi Capital, Danhua Capital, Google Ventures and Salesforce.
ClickTale (2006, Tel Aviv, $60M) – Uses patented Customer Experience Visualization™ technology, which allows businesses to see their customers’ true-to-life online experience at all levels of detail, from aggregated views to playable videos of users’ browsing sessions. Backed by Amadeus Capital Partners, Goldrock Capital, KKR, Talis Capital, TPY Capital, Viola Credit, Viola Partners and YL Ventures.
Influencer Marketing
Izea (2006, Orlando, IPO) – Connects brands with influential content creators and publishers. Claims more than 850,000 registered influencers in 147 countries and 50,000 registered advertisers. Went public in 2011.
Augure (2002, Paris, $36.5M) – Enables PR and Marketing practitioners to identify and engage their key influencers. Offers tools to measure impact of campaigns. Backed by Ventech, Serena Capital, BPIFrance and Amundi.
TheAudience (2011, West Hollywood, $20M, Acq.) – A multi-channel publisher of social and digital content that amplifies the content it through a select network of influencers. Offers full-scope MCN management, video syndication and detailed performance analytics. Backed by Capricorn Investment Group, Founders Fund, Guggenheim Partners, Intertainment Media and Participant Media. Al Ahli Holding Group acquired the major stake in 2015.
Mobile Marketing Suite
Urban Airship (2009, Portland, $68M) – Offers a Mobile engagement platform to engage customers via push notifications, in-app messaging, location/proximity-targeting and analytics. Backed by Salesforce, Foundry, True Ventures and August Capital.
Localytics (2008, Boston, $60M) – Provides a lifecycle engagement platform for web and mobile apps. Allows marketers to gain insights into app user behavior, and create automated marketing programs through targeted push and in-app messaging, and a personalized in-app experience. Backed by Foundation Capital, Sapphire Ventures and Polaris Partners.
Referral Automation
Influitive (2010, Toronto, $50M) – Provides a platform to manage and mobilize customer advocates in a central location to enable referral leads, reference calls and social media advocacy. Backed by Georgian Partners, HWVP, Converge Venture Partners and Relay Venture Partners.
Extole (2009, SF, $48M) – Provides a social media customer acquisition platform through referrals, promotions and testimonials. Backed by Trident Capital, Scale Venture Partners, Redpoint, Shasta Ventures and NVP.
Account Based Marketing
Bloomreach (2009, Mountain View, $97M) – Offers a big-data ML based engine to analyse customer interaction data and provide personalized product recommendations and web experiences. Backed by Bain Capital, NEA, Lightspeed Venture Partners, SalesForce and Battery Ventures.
Radius (2009, SF, $133M) – Predictive marketing and sales platform for sales professionals to reach over 20M SMBs. Backed by Founders Fund, Glynn Capital, SalesForce, AME Cloud Ventures, BlueRun Ventures, American Express, SLow Ventures, Western Technology Investment and Comcast Ventures.
User Identity Management
Gigya (2006, Mountain View, $106M) – Offers a Customer Identity Management Platform that businesses can use to identify customers, aggregate data & personalize campaigns. Backed by Adobe, Intel, Common Fund, Greenspring Associates and DAG Ventures.
Tag Management
Signal (2009, Chicago, $90M) – Offers a people based cross channel marketing platform. Backed by I2A Fund, Baird Capital, EPIC Ventures, Jumpstart Ventures, Pritzker Group, Silicon Valley Bank and Tommorow Ventures. Combined with BrightTag in 2014.
Tealium (2008, San Diego, $78M) – Offers an enterprise tag management and customer data integration platform. Backed by Bain, Battery Ventures, Georgian Partners, Presidio Ventures, Tenaya Capital and Silver Lake Partners.
Leaderboard includes all the top funded, IPO and successfully running bootstrapped companies along with their location, founding year and funding amount
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