CX funding activity rises to the forefront in this roundup with the achievement of fresh capital infusion or new equity investment for Ohio-based Emplifi, Birdeye from California, inFeedo in New York City, and Israel-based provider Affogata. The lone mergers-and-acquisitions event in this roundup is the double acquisition deal orchestrated by Danish outfit Dixa. Details follow below.
Emplifi Obtains Growth Equity Investment at Valuation of More Than $1 Billion
Emplifi, the provider of CX software solutions headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, has obtained a new growth equity investment yielding a valuation of more than $1 billion. The investment, the size of which has not been disclosed, was led by Sixth Street Growth, a global investment firm with $60 billion in assets under management, along with the participation of LionTree Merchant Bank, the private boutique investment bank headquartered in New York City. Audax Private Equity, the Boston-based investor in middle market US companies, remains the majority investor in the company.
With a customer base of 7,000 brands, Emplifi provides organizations with a platform for social media marketing, customer care, and social commerce to help address critical gaps in CX, which Emplifi says have grown wider in the past two years since the pandemic began.
Emplifi CEO Mark Zablan believes Sixth Street’s investment will help the company accelerate product innovation and growth through existing and new markets. “In Sixth Street, we have found a patient, long-term investor with a strong record in customer experience. Their partnership mindset will add great strategic value to Emplifi,” says Zablan.
Birdeye Obtains $60 Million in Series C Funding
Birdeye, the provider of a CX and reputation management platform from Palo Alto, California, has closed a $60 million Series C funding round led by Accel-KKR, the investor in software- and IT-enabled businesses from Menlo Park, California. The new equity will help Birdeye speed up the development of a full product offering to enable digital transformation in enterprises. The funds from the round will also be used to expand Birdeye’s reach into Australia and the UK, enabling local businesses there to operate efficiently and deliver superior CX to help attract new customers and drive revenue.
Naveen Gupta, CEO of Birdeye, says that while the business case for offering customers a digital-first experience has become even more compelling during the pandemic, many organizations have been unable to transition to digital. “We want to help local businesses join the digital revolution without the hassle of complicated and costly software,” says Gupta. “We want to allow local businesses to compete and win the larger organizations.”
Birdeye helps more than 80,000 local businesses manage CX by making customer-relevant data normally found in disparate customer touchpoints, including reviews, referrals, messaging, web chat, surveys, digital payments, and AI-powered insights, accessible under an all-in-one platform.
HRTech Startup inFeedo Secures $12 Million
Human resources technology (HR Tech) startup inFeedo, the New York City-based provider of an enterprise employee engagement platform, has secured $12 million in Series A funding, bringing the total capital raised by the company to $16 million. The funding round was led by Jungle Ventures, an early-stage venture capital (VC) investor headquartered in Singapore. Funding participants included Tiger Global Management, the investment firm headquartered in New York City that deploys capital globally in both public and private markets, and individual investors from Zeta Global, Gainsight, and Freshworks.
The fresh funds will be used by inFeedo during the next couple of years to triple its product line, quadruple company revenue, double employee headcount, and accelerate growth in Southeast Asia, India and the US. InFeedo is also planning a second employee stock option plan (ESOP) buyback, conducting hiring for more than 140 remote roles across various functions, and accelerating its go-to-market strategy for North America.
Founded in 2016, inFeedo is an employee experience (EX) platform with capabilities in people analytics to help companies predict attrition, burnout, and disengagement in workers. The platform also includes Amber, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot able to conduct human-like conversations with employees to obtain feedback on their wellness and morale.
Affogata Raises $9.5 Million in Seed Funding
Affogata, the Israeli provider of an AI-driven customer intelligence platform, has raised a total of $9.5 million following an extension of its seed funding round.
The new infusion of capital was led by Mindset Ventures, an early-stage VC investor headquartered in Brazil. Other investors included Mangrove Capital Partners, the Florida-based private equity firm; Pico Venture Partners, an investor from Jerusalem; and a group of notable individual investors that included Avishai Abrahami, CEO and founder of website builder Wix.com; Micha Kaufman, CEO of Fiverr, an Israeli online marketplace for freelance services; Giora Yaron, the founder of 12 companies and a director at business communications provider Amdocs; and Ronen Shilo, CEO of Conduit, Israel’s largest internet firm.
The new funds will be used to expand Affogata operations and bolster the company’s AI-propelled customer voice analysis platform, which tracks and measures user reactions to new features and user interface changes introduced by companies in new or updated product offerings. By identifying unusual patterns and streamlining real-time data, Affogata provides early intervention and preemptive action to improve product roadmap planning. Marketers, product managers, customer success teams, and other stakeholders can also leverage the insights obtained during the tracking process, enabling proactive action to improve CX.
Dixa Buys Miuros and Solvemate in Double Acquisition Deal
Dixa, the Danish provider of a conversational customer engagement software, has purchased Paris-based analytics leader Miuros and Berlin-based automation pioneer Solvemate in a double acquisition deal valued at $43 million. Purchasing the two companies will strengthen Dixa’s long-term vision to help brands deliver value-driven experiences for both customers and service agents, Dixa says. The acquisition follows a period of rapid growth for Dixa in 2021, which included a $105 million Series C funding round, expansion into the US, and the acquisition of Australian knowledge platform Elevio for $15 million.
Dixa is used by consumer-facing and digital-first brands to serve customers across multiple channels, touchpoints, and experiences—all from a single screen that can include social media, chat, voice, and messaging apps, serving customers and agents alike. With cross-channel prioritization features, routing capabilities, and flexible integrations, Dixa can help brands across the globe deliver value-driven CX at scale, all from a single platform.
Dixa has raised $155 million in funding to date, with backing from European-focused Notion Capital, operational VC Project A Ventures, successful seed-stage investor SEED Capital from Denmark, and New York City growth equity investor General Atlantic. The company has offices in Copenhagen, London, Berlin, Paris, Chicago, Tallinn, Kiev, Tel Aviv, and Melbourne.
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.
