On a smaller scale, text-analysis platform Luminoso announced a $10 million Series B, bringing total funding just over $30 million. Luminoso specializes in analyzing customer conversations such as call center transcripts.
B2B data vendor Aberdeen has acquired intent data collector The Big Willow. Once best known for its survey-driven research reports, used primarily for lead generation, Aberdeen now positions itself as an intent data vendor. The acquisition expands the volume of intent signals that Aberdeen can marry with its contact lists.
Facebook, Google, and other “walled gardens” sell advertising based on their own data without sharing it. Amazon is joining the club, switching from a search-driven marketplace to one where brands must pay to be seen. Amazon ad specialist Quartile found the change is happening quickly: the share of Thanksgiving-weekend sales driven by ads grew 54% this year over 2017, reaching 25.1% of the total. Amazon is already the third largest digital ad publisher.
Email and mobile personalization platform Movable Ink has announced a new integration between its Da Vinci content personalization solution and Adobe Journey Optimizer. Joint customers will be able to develop content assets aimed at each individual email recipient and bring them into Adobe Journey Optimizer for deployment. This builds on an existing integration between Movable Ink Da Vinci and Adobe Campaign.