Next, let’s follow some money. Biggest spend is $165 million invested by Battery Ventures in risk and reputation intelligence platform Signal AI; some sources consider this a buy-out. We also have $30 million invested in Structured (formerly StructuredWeb) for channel-partner marketing automation. And let’s not forget vibe coding start-up Emergent announcing a $23 million Series A to let “everyday entrepreneurs” build their own apps.
Let’s catch up today on news that went unmentioned while we obsessed about TikTok, Google, Microsoft, and the rest. First, some CX acquisitions: Stockholm-based experience analytics vendor Netigate bought Netherlands-based digital feedback collector Mopinion while Colorado-based survey platform Alchemer bought San Diego-based review and comment collector Chatmeter. We also have “AI-native operating system for advertising” Veylan buying media sales platform Advisr and, far from least, investment firm Thoma Bravo spending $1.4 billion to buy SaaS pricing and sales solution PROS Holdings, Inc.
Of course, there’s an endless swarm of AI product announcements. Among familiar names, Pega has launched the “industry’s first agentic enterprise transformation platform”; Klaviyo has added Marketing and Customer Agents to its “AI-first B2C CRM”; and Invoca has a new AI solution to connect TV and video ads to revenue. Less-familiar Easify offers what it calls the “first all-in-one AI-powered marketing platform”, which is actually limited to outbound messages. Perhaps most novel, Novi attaches verified trust signals such as badges, certifications and endorsements to ecommerce products, raising their visibility with... Read More >
Mastercard has unveiled Mastercard Commerce Media, its new digital media network that can attribute conversion to in-store and online purchases. The network features a 25,000-advertiser base and reach to 500 million enrolled customers. A “growing collaboration” with WPP allows connection to traditional media.