Optimove, the privately held developer of web-based marketing and analysis software from Israel, announced on September 27 that it had secured an investment of $75 million in a new funding round, the company announced on its website.
The capital infusion, led by alternative investment firm Summit Partners with participation from existing investors, will be used to support several goals, including strategic mergers and acquisitions, expansion of the company’s customer relationship management (CRM) marketing platform, and additional hiring—all of which are aimed at furthering growth, the company said.
Optimove develops CRM software primarily for business-to-consumer (B2C) brands. Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), the software helps orchestrate customer journeys, organizing customers into segments and then monitoring their migration to other segments as their behaviors change. Using such models, Optimove can predict customer future value with a brand, including the likelihood of customers to convert or churn.
The goal, according to the company, is to keep customers coming back for repeat business. Optimove does this by determining the appropriate marketing campaign that best fits the customer’s needs, and by serving the campaign and its message via the channels to which the customer is most likely to respond. The company then uses statistical measures to gauge the impact and effectiveness of the CRM marketing effort.
“In the last 18 months, digital consumption grew like never before,” said Pini Yakuel, Optimove CEO and founder, in a statement. “As a result, the cost of acquiring new customers has skyrocketed, while customer loyalty took a deep dive. Now, more than ever, brands understand the urgency to invest in existing customers to drive growth.”
Optimove officials said the company’s CRM marketing platform currently serves more than 500 brands in the fields of ecommerce, gaming, retail, quick service restaurants (QSRs), telecommunications, and financial services, reaching more than 3 billion customers every year. Messages are sent via email, mobile, ad platforms, and other channels.
By its own account, Optimove has been profitable since it was founded in 2009. Following an initial five-year period that the company describes as one of “bootstrapping,” Optimove raised its first investment of $20 million in 2016 from IGP, a private equity firm that invests growth capital in late-stage startups. Optimove’s revenue increased more than 40% during the last 12 months, according to company officials. Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, with additional offices in London and New York City, Optimove currently has more than 250 employees, but it plans to double its global headcount in the next 24 months, hiring predominantly for the company’s technology, customer, and commercial organizations.
Author Information
Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
