When businesses can connect more personally with their customers, those customers in turn are more loyal. However, as consumer behavior changes, especially as it did over the past 18 months, it is more difficult to establish that connection amid all of the messages put in front of them.
Optimove, specializing in customer relationship management marketing, wants to help brands “delight” their customers and keep them coming back. The company, with bases in Tel Aviv, New York and London, raised a $75 million growth investment led by Summit Partners.
Pini Yakuel, founder and CEO of Optimove, Image Credits: Optimove
The SaaS company was founded in 2012 by CEO Pini Yakuel to connect customers with brands and to apply artificial intelligence to customer data to orchestrate the right message to the right customer at the right time, and do it at scale, Yakuel told TechCrunch.
“It’s easier when you are creating three or five customer journeys a month, but when you really scale and want to do thousands, there is not an easy way to do that,” he added. “We do that with AI orchestrators that govern all of the messages. Now you can define the message and the marketer will have all of the data and be able to get feedback and analysis of what the customer segment looks like.”
As the global multichannel marketing market is expected to reach $28 billion by 2027, Yakuel said it will be an advantage to know who a brand’s customers are and how to target them. Optimove’s analysis of the data provides insights on how to achieve and attribute measurable improvement in such areas as churn, conversion, reactivation and lifetime value for each customer and campaign.
Prior to this investment, Optimove was bootstrapped for the first four years until raising $20 million. Yakuel said the company hasn’t used the money yet — it has been profitable so far. He considers the round to be Summit Partners, which is buying out the company’s earlier investors, as making a bigger commitment to the company.
“It is a transition and phase into a new era,” he added. “It felt like the right time for us given the specific climate of fundraising. We also want to do some M&A and build out our platform, but that all has to be done seamlessly. To use us today, a business may also have to use three or four other solutions and stitch them together. If we can own some of those capabilities, we can be better partners.”
In addition to M&A, the company plans to double its staff of 300 over the next two years and invest in technology, R&D and engineering to serve its 500 brand customers, including BetMGM, Papa John’s and Staples.
In the past year, the company saw an increase of 40% annual recurring revenue, and it sends more than 23 billion optimized messages via email, mobile, ad platforms and other channels, to over 3 billion customers annually. Next up for the company, Yakuel expects the next milestone to be an initial public offering in three years.
In addition to the funding, the company said Summit Partners’ head of Europe, Han Sikkens, and managing director, Steffan Peyer, are joining its board of directors.
Peyer said Summit invests in companies that are focused on marketing technology and are out to understand the customer journey, especially as that has become more important during the global pandemic. During this time, the cost of acquiring new customers has risen and this is where Optimove is most beneficial — enabling engagement with existing user bases, he added.
“What they have done is build a sophisticated customer data platform, with a sophisticated analytics orchestration engine, predicated on understanding and review the behavior of the customer and targeting micro segment campaigns to ensure the engagement level is good, and if there are other products that could be sold to a particular customer,” Peyer said. “Their modeling has a strong backend infrastructure to process data at scale and leverage that information in real time.”
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the technology, base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets also fell.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 239.24 points at 22,749.04.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 312.36 points at 40,443.39. The S&P 500 index was down 80.94 points at 5,422.47, while the Nasdaq composite was down 380.17 points at 16,747.49.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.80 cents US compared with 74.00 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down US$1.07 at US$68.08 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.26 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$2.10 at US$2,541.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was down four cents at US$4.10 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in technology, financial and energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also pushed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 171.41 points at 23,298.39.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 278.37 points at 41,369.79. The S&P 500 index was up 38.17 points at 5,630.35, while the Nasdaq composite was up 177.15 points at 17,733.18.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.19 cents US compared with 74.23 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up US$1.75 at US$76.27 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.10 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$18.70 at US$2,556.50 an ounce and the December copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.22 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.
The crypto market has recently experienced a significant downturn, mirroring broader risk asset sell-offs. Over the past week, Bitcoin’s price dropped by 24%, reaching $53,000, while Ethereum plummeted nearly a third to $2,340. Major altcoins also suffered, with Cardano down 27.7%, Solana 36.2%, Dogecoin 34.6%, XRP 23.1%, Shiba Inu 30.1%, and BNB 25.7%.
The severe downturn in the crypto market appears to be part of a broader flight to safety, triggered by disappointing economic data. A worse-than-expected unemployment report on Friday marked the beginning of a technical recession, as defined by the Sahm Rule. This rule identifies a recession when the three-month average unemployment rate rises by at least half a percentage point from its lowest point in the past year.
Friday’s figures met this threshold, signaling an abrupt economic downshift. Consequently, investors sought safer assets, leading to declines in major stock indices: the S&P 500 dropped 2%, the Nasdaq 2.5%, and the Dow 1.5%. This trend continued into Monday with further sell-offs overseas.
The crypto market’s rapid decline raises questions about its role as either a speculative asset or a hedge against inflation and recession. Despite hopes that crypto could act as a risk hedge, the recent crash suggests it remains a speculative investment.
Since the downturn, the crypto market has seen its largest three-day sell-off in nearly a year, losing over $500 billion in market value. According to CoinGlass data, this bloodbath wiped out more than $1 billion in leveraged positions within the last 24 hours, including $365 million in Bitcoin and $348 million in Ether.
Khushboo Khullar of Lightning Ventures, speaking to Bloomberg, argued that the crypto sell-off is part of a broader liquidity panic as traders rush to cover margin calls. Khullar views this as a temporary sell-off, presenting a potential buying opportunity.
Josh Gilbert, an eToro market analyst, supports Khullar’s perspective, suggesting that the expected Federal Reserve rate cuts could benefit crypto assets. “Crypto assets have sold off, but many investors will see an opportunity. We see Federal Reserve rate cuts, which are now likely to come sharper than expected, as hugely positive for crypto assets,” Gilbert told Coindesk.
Despite the recent volatility, crypto continues to make strides toward mainstream acceptance. Notably, Morgan Stanley will allow its advisors to offer Bitcoin ETFs starting Wednesday. This follows more than half a year after the introduction of the first Bitcoin ETF. The investment bank will enable over 15,000 of its financial advisors to sell BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC. This move is seen as a significant step toward the “mainstreamization” of crypto, given the lengthy regulatory and company processes in major investment banks.
The recent crypto market downturn highlights its volatility and the broader economic concerns affecting all risk assets. While some analysts see the current situation as a temporary sell-off and a buying opportunity, others caution against the speculative nature of crypto. As the market evolves, its role as a mainstream alternative asset continues to grow, marked by increasing institutional acceptance and new investment opportunities.
