Adams Street’s Growth Equity Team is proud to announce that we led the $200 million Series E of Iterable, a cloud-native, omni-channel marketing and customer engagement platform that allows clients to create, execute, and optimize cross-channel campaigns.
Brands struggle to connect with consumers effectively. Marketing expenses comprise the majority of most companies’ operating budget and often fail to deliver a favorable ROI. Companies flood our inboxes with email promotions which are seldom opened, deliver push notifications that may or may not be effective, and send unwanted text messages. At the same time, consumers expect more and hold brands to an increasingly higher standard. We want real-time responses from people or bots that understand our needs and purchase history. Customers have also demonstrated willingness to pay a premium for their service experience; one study1 cites that 80% of consumers find the experience of dealing with a company just as important as the product or service it sells. As just one negative service experience can cost a brand a customer, we expect companies to increase spend on loyalty and retention marketing by 30% in 2021.2
With the onset of pandemic-related lockdowns, companies from all industries, of all sizes, and with all levels of technical capabilities were forced to interact with customers online. Even those with an existing digital presence had to heighten their efforts and the volume of marketing messages is expected to increase by 40% in 2021.2 Customers are now used to interacting with companies online and Adams Street believes they will continue to use digital tools after pandemic restrictions subside. We believe this will not only increase the demand for a platform to manage all these interactions, but also will create valuable customer data that companies can harness to deliver better experiences, in person or otherwise.
Iterable’s cloud-native platform is among the leaders in the space. The solution covers email, push, in-app, SMS, direct mail, Facebook groups, and a handful of other platforms, optimizing send time, channel usage, and frequency. In addition to execution, Iterable serves as a system of record for all marketing data to help teams improve going forward. Iterable also leverages AI and ML on customer, product and third-party data to optimize campaigns and predict engagement in ways the legacy providers cannot. The company’s flexible data architecture integrates with more than 75 partners across email services, lead capture, ecommerce, data management, and more. This allows clients to plug their current systems into Iterable’s platform to leverage data from every possible source, creating a more robust view of customers, and offering greater execution flexibility depending on their tech stack. Finally, Iterable is known for having great UI, easy-to-build workflows and customer journeys, extensive data storage, and actionable insights like brand affinity scores to help marketers be more targeted.
Iterable also leverages AI and ML on customer, product and third-party data to optimize campaigns and predict engagement in ways the legacy providers cannot
Adams Street could not be more excited to partner with Iterable as they continue on their mission to connect people with products that bring them joy. Congratulations to the Iterable team on their successful Series E.
Notes
1. Source: Salesforce’s “State of Marketing” report, Fifth Edition. December 2018.
2. Source: Iterable Company Overview. January 2021.
Important Considerations: This information (the “Paper”) is provided for educational purposes only and is not investment advice or an offer or sale of any security or investment product or investment advice. Statements in this Paper are made as of the date of this Paper unless stated otherwise, and there is no implication that the information contained herein is correct as of any time subsequent to such date. All information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable and current, but accuracy cannot be guaranteed. References herein to Adams Street Partners’ portfolio companies are not to be considered a recommendation or solicitation for any such company. Projections or forward-looking statements contained in the Paper are only estimates of future results or events that are based upon assumptions made at the time such projections or statements were developed or made; actual results may be significantly different from the projections. Also, general economic factors, which are not predictable, can have a material impact on the reliability of projections or forward-looking statements.
