Meanwhile, small business CRM Insightly has released a marketing automation module, complete with multi-step journeys, email templates, and advanced analytics. Insightly has more than 25,000 customers worldwide. The marketing module should be available by the time you read this.
Small business martech vendors Benchmark (email) and Hatchbuck (CRM plus marketing automation) are merging. The deal will help the two relatively small firms compete with industry giants. The combined firm will have 130 employees and over 150,000 users.
Since we’re dancing on the frontier between digital and physical, let’s finish with a bow to Syte, which just raised a $21.5 million Series B for its visual recognition AI. Syte lets shoppers take a picture of a product and search for similar products on an ecommerce Web site. It also has in-store applications such as smart mirrors and in-store stylists. They get bonus points for a company name that puns on both Web site and eye sight.
Procrastinators of the world can throw a party whenever they get around to it: Google has once more pushed back complete third-party cookie deprecation. The new target is “early next year.” Reasons for the delay include concerns expressed by U.K. data regulator Information Commissioner’s Office, an ongoing inquiry by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, and widespread discontent in the advertising ecosystem.