A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting start-ups globally
RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – MARKETING TECH
- Thron, a Digital Asset Management platform, has raised $2.4M in funding. Link
- Lucid, a sampling tool for Market Research, has raised a $60M round led by North Bridge Growth Equity. Link
- Popular Plays, an influencer marketplace, has raised $3.1M in a round led by GoAhead VC with participation from Pallasite Ventures and Hyde Park Angels. Link
- SOCi, a social media management platform for enterprises, has raised $8.5M in a Series A round.Link
- IgnitionOne, a digital marketing platform, has closed a $12M venture loan from Horizon Technology Finance Corporation. Link
- ActionIQ, a SaaS based marketing intelligence platform, has raised $13M in a round led by Sequoia Capital. Link
- Ripl, a mobile app for SMBs to create visual content, has raised $3M in a round led by Trilogy Equity Partners. Link
- Visible Measures, an analytics led video advertising platform, has been acquired for $10M by AcuityAds. Link
- Chute, a visual content marketing solution, has raised new round of funding, bringing in $4.1M from Salesforce Ventures and existing investors. Link
- RankingCoach, a marketing app for SMBs, has raised $5.4M from United Internet, a German internet services company. Link
- Wigzo, an online contextual marketing platform, has raised an undisclosed amount in a bridge round led by existing investor 3one4 capital. Link
- Reputation.com, an Online Reputation Management platform, has closed its latest financing round with investment from Heritage Group. Link
- Placester, a marketing platform for real estate professionals, has raised a $50M Series D round led by existing investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Link
- Customer.io, a Portland startup that helps companies manage email marketing campaigns, has raised $3M in funding. Link
- Zenreach, a local store marketing management platform, has raised $30M in a Series C funding round. Link
- SparkPost, a cloud email infrastructure provider, received $10.5M in debt funding from Square 1 Bank. Link
- Hootsuite has acquired Naritiv, an analytics solution for SnapChat. Link
SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND
Crystal (2016, Milan) – First Virtual Advisor for optimizing social campaigns by automate scheduling and publishing of content.
Personic (2016, Palo Alto) – Patented technology to integrate email marketing with chat bots on messenger platforms like FB messenger, WhatsApp, Snapchat, etc.
LEADER BOARD – MARKETING TECH
Omni-Channel Marketing – 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, $26M) – Planning, collaboration and management platform for brands to distribute marketing content across multiple social channels. Backed by Madrona Venture Group.
Buffer (2010, SF, $4M) – 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, $16M) – 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, $88M) – 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.
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 software provider. 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, $20M) – 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.
Mobile Marketing Suite
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
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.
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.
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, $113M) – 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.
Leader board includes all the top funded, IPO and successfully running bootstrapped companies along with their location, founding year and funding amount.
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