Another sign of creeping normality is that ZoomInfo is moving ahead with its Initial Public Offering, planning to raise up to $800 million at a valuation of nearly $7 billion. It’s more ambitious than the $500 million IPO announced in early March, before COVID-19 shutdowns hit hard.
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?
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.