CDP Optimove has purchased Axonite, a real-time event streaming framework built on Apache Kafka and Confluent. Translating from tech-speak: it will easier for Optimove to ingest, react, and share events as they happen. We can all see the value in that.
Retina’s founders didn’t get the memo that AI is no longer cool and have positioned their system as using it to predict customer lifetime value. They take the rather hostile attitude that “a majority [of new customers] are poison for the business” and promise to weed the bad ones out quickly. They just raised $5 million from backers who probably expect the majority of their investments to fail but miss the irony.
And since we’re looking at surveys about data, let’s finish with this DigiDay report for Bannerflow, which found that 41% of companies make better use of their data after bringing technology in-house. Most intriguing finding: companies with a stand-alone in-house agency fell to 36% from 59% a year earlier. They either made embedded agency skills in their marketing teams (35% vs 23% the year before) or went back to external agencies (29% vs 17%).
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.