All the latest martech, adtech and customer technology news from ZineOne, Contxtful, AppLovin, Metadata, Search.io, Algolia, InMobi, Analytic Partners and LeanData
ZineOne in-session marketing platform secures US$28m
ZineOne, which has built an in-session marketing platform to provide real-time behavioural intelligence around online shopping experiences for anonymous website visitors, has raised US$28 million in Series C funding.
The round was led by SignalFire, with participation from Norwest and other existing investors. The investment will support ZineOne’s vision of building out the in-session marketing category – a concept that’s designed to increase ecommerce revenue and conversions in a privacy-forward world using advanced machine learning (ML). The company is also looking to improve understanding of short-term consumer behaviours in-the-moment using only clickstream data, without requiring any historical, demographic or personally identifiable information.
“The end of third-party cookies and increased data privacy concerns have disrupted the way e-commerce brands have been doing their jobs for the last 10 years,” said SignalFire’s Chris Scoggins, who has now joined ZineOne’s board of directors. “Currently, 80-90 per cent of site visitors are anonymous, and ZineOne is able to intelligently segment visitors within five clicks to optimise conversions.”
Contxtful raises CAD$3m from angel investors
Canada-based Contxtful, the startup behind Receptivity, has closed a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) of CAD$3 million (AUD$3.37m) from Canadian and American angel investors to propel its attention metric offering forward.
The company said investors have roots in the advertising industry and included Silicon Valley’s NJP Ventures plus original investors. These funds are earmarked to assist as Contxtful prepares for a mid-2023 series A and used to keep improving Receptivity’s AI model, ramp up hiring in all departments and accelerating a commercialisation push in the US and Europe.
Receptivity is a metric measuring users’ attention right before they are exposed to ads. This is achieved without any third-party cookies, in real-time, using non-private sensor data from the user’s mobile device, such as the gyroscope and accelerometer. Advertisers can then show their ads to the most engaged users at the perfect moment.
“We're here to disrupt an industry and change how people think about adtech. The human context is something we can finally measure in real-time and leverage all while remaining ethical, and YES, cookieless,” said Contxtful CRO, Éléonore Piché. “How? We're speaking with innovative SSPs and DSPs to make Receptivity available at scale to advertisers and agencies who actually want results.”
Metadata acquires Reactful
Our first acquisition story this week comes from Metadata.io, which has acquired Reactful.
Reactful offers a real-time Web optimisation and personalisation platform for B2B marketers. The martech vendors the deal expands the current capabilities of its platform, including website personalisation and account-based marketing (ABM) capabilities to their marketing operating system, extending its beyond paid advertising. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Metadata is changing how marketers work so they can drive more revenue,” said Reactful president and CEO, Leifur Thordarson. “We’re thrilled to join such a dynamic team and see website personalization as a key component of the Marketing Operating System.”
The acquisition comes after Metadata raised US$40m in Series B funding earlier this year. Its customers include Zoom, Okta, and ThoughtSpot.
Algolia purchases Australia-based Search.io
Algolia has also been on the acquisitions trail and picked up Search.io, a search and discovery service that uses powerful artificial intelligence (AI) engines to fuel its flagship proprietary instant vector search technology, Neuralsearch.
Search.io serves billions of API requests every month on more than 1000 sites globally including the BBC, Catch, Lockheed Martin, NSW Government, Rentpath, Sennheiser and Unity. Algolia plans to combine its keyword search and Search.io’s Neuralsearch into a single API.
The company said the combination of two search pioneers will allow it to more effectively surface accurate and relevant results for users, whether they use specific keywords or natural human expressions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Our mission, vision and purpose is powering discovery. We’ve done this to date largely with keyword search. With the addition of the vector search engine from Search.io, we’re going to disrupt the search market significantly,” said Algolia chief executive officer, Bernadette Nixon. “We’ll be the only product on the market that combines keyword search with vector-based semantic and image search, along with vector-based recommendations.
“Vendor consolidation is back in vogue and being able to get best-in-class capabilities from one provider is powerful in today’s economic climate.”
Algolia’s acquisition of Search.io comes on the heels of a significant 2022 hiring stint, with the company creating more than 145 new jobs in Q2 and doubling its employee population over the past year.
InMobi partners up with Red Planet
InMobi has struck a partnership with Red Planet to offer brands exclusive access to its audiences for in-app advertising in the InMobi Exchange.
These audiences will be made available through InMobi’s new series of vertical and customised private marketplaces, Curated. Additionally, the adtech player has signed a new data partnership with Eyeota and expanded its existing relationship with Experian to make both audience sets available to buy programmatically on the new private marketplaces across Australia and New Zealand.
In total, it said it’ll be offering advertisers more than 20,000 audience segments for activating in-app campaigns.
Curated, by InMobi, launched in April 2022 in Australia and New Zealand and provides a series of privacy-compliant curated marketplaces on the InMobi Exchange to help mobile advertisers better reach and engage with relevant niche audiences, including shopping, gaming, crypto, premium sports and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD).
Analytic Partners puts the emphasis on forecasting returns in real time
Marketing measurement and optimisation vendor, Analytic Partners, has debuted new product enhancements to help enable marketers to forecast return on investment in real time.
Using its updated GPS-E platform, brands can re-run and optimise plans to accommodate dramatic shifts in market, with recommendations ready in minutes, rather than days. The self-serve platform will now provide richer algorithms to turn around varying scenarios with multiple external factors such as consumer price index, gas prices, unemployment, category trends, stock market indices, home prices, interest rates and mortgage rates, as well as varied objectives.
“While cuts are never ideal, for marketers who need to maximise remaining budgets and protect ROI, it is essential to evaluate all potential scenarios at a speed that matches market changes,” said Analytic Partners managing director of Australia, Paul Sinkinson. “We’re helping marketers leave no stone unturned by providing speed, context and confidence in their decision making. With increased fuel prices, high inflation, and a looming recession, plus the long-term supply chain impact of Covid, there’s never been a more imperative time for brands to understand how to seek greater efficiencies and improved results.”
AppLovin will not submit revised proposal to join up with Unity Software
Developer platform, AppLovin, has confirmed it does not intend to submit another proposal to combine with Unity Software and has withdrawn its initial proposal from 9 August 2022.
As previously reported in CMO, AppLovin put in an unsolicited bid to acquire Unity Software for US$20 billion, a move aimed at combining its mobile marketing and monetisation platform with the latter’s platform for creating and operating 3D content. However, the bid was swiftly rejected by Unity Software’s board in favour of continuing on its planned path to merge with ironsource.
AppLovin said it had concluded its path as the independent market leader was better for its stockholders and other stakeholders. AppLovin said it’s now putting its focus on continuing to gain market share and expand its platform.
“We remain excited about the long-term growth potential of our core markets and AppLovin,” said AppLovin CEO and co-founder, Adam Foroughi. “Our experienced and dedicated team will continue to focus on what we can control, including continual improvements to our products and technology and expanding into newer high-growth markets.”
LeanData revs up integration ecosystem approach
Revenue management platform, LeanData, has taken the wrappers off new out-of-the-box integrations with sales and marketing solutions from 6sense, Clearbit, Cloudingo, Cognism, Crossbeam, Kronologic, Microsoft Teams, SalesIntel, Sendoso and UserGems.
LeanData’s latest integrations significantly expand its ecosystem of long-standing integrations, which also includes Salesloft, Slack, Outreach and others. LeanData’s Revenue Orchestration platform provides workflows to orchestrate data, processes and plays across Salesforce CRM and leading third-party applications in the revenue tech stack.
The new integrations mean users can ingest unique buyer signals with 6sense and UserGems, enrich records, improve data quality with Cloudingo, strengthen partner co-selling motions with Crossbeam, trigger cadences with Salesforce Sales Engagement, Salesloft and Outreach, send tailored calendar invites with Kronologic, integrate gifting plays with Sendoso and deliver real-time notifications with Slack and Microsoft Teams.
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