Cloud-based master data management vendor Reltio, which also qualifies as a Customer Data Platform, announced a $40 million Series C. Total funding is now $72 million. Reltio sells directly and has partnerships with firms including Dun & Bradstreet, SnapLogic, and QuintilesIMS. In addition to assembling data, Reltio incorporates Apache Spark for predictive analytics.

Retail qualifies as a vertical, although I don’t have a retail product to discuss. But here’s a MarketTrack study on shopper preferences for online vs in-store shopping. Despite all the bad news you’ve read about bricks-and-mortar retailers, shoppers in most categories still prefer to buy in a physical store. But younger shoppers lean more towards online and 80% of respondents said they do online price comparisons. So the prospects for conventional in-store retail do look rather bleak.

It’s deal-making time for generative AI model builders and publishers who can provide them with quality data.  Germany publishing giant Axel Springer is trading access to its data for Microsoft adtech, AI, and Azure hosting solutions.  Meanwhile, The Financial Times has struck a deal with OpenAI to license its content with attribution of summaries and quotes.