Ecommerce platform Shopify has set a strategic alliance with retail messaging platform and might-be-a-CDP Klaviyo. The deal reportedly includes a $100 million investment in Klaviyo by Shopify. Both parties will still work with other partners, but they clearly see benefits in forging a tighter integration.
One of the more reliable quirks of survey research is whoever answers the questions always thinks they’re in charge. Sure enough, this Pantheon survey found 84% of marketers and 87% of IT leaders said they’re the decision-makers for the company web site. The two groups had different priorities but did agree on finger pointing: both said poor collaboration and lack of agility hinder digital marketing efforts.
CDP Omeda also has a new investor: private equity firm Sverica Capital made an undisclosed investment which, I’m told privately, includes majority ownership. Current leadership retains a large share and will still run the company. We’re seeing more private investments as venture funding and public markets become more cautious.
Salesforce is buying Airkit.ai, which builds low-code, AI-powered e-commerce customer service agents. You might have thought Salesforce could already do that, but presumably Airkit does it better. It doesn’t hurt that the company founders sold a previous business to Salesforce, the company was partly funded by Salesforce Ventures, and the product is already listed on AppExchange. Price was not announced.