In another bit of business-as-almost-usual, open source web development framework Gatsby has raised a $28 million Series B, bringing its total to $47 million. You may have thought WordPress, Drupal, and others had the open source Web CMS business locked down, but Gatsby lets developers create Web sites by stitching together separate cloud-based services. It’s APIs all the way down.
All funding news today, Dear Reader. Top item is a $50 million Series D for AI-powered retail personalization vendor Bluecore, bringing its total raise to $113 million. Unlike BlueConic, BlueVenn, and Blueshift, Bluecore is not a CDP. They do have a rare pricing model based entirely on shared customer success.
And an acquisition: partner management platform Partnerize has purchased brand safety platform BrandVerity. The deal will make it easier for Partnerize clients to ensure the affiliates are complying with rules for how brands can be presented. Did you notice that everything’s a platform these days?
The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that could potentially ban TikTok in the U.S. if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell its holdings within a year. The bill now goes to the President Biden, who has said he will sign it. Court challenges are likely to follow.