When Ian, Chris and I first started Sailthru over four years ago, we did so to solve a common business problem: lack of consumer engagement. The concept was – and remains – simple. By providing people information that they’re personally interested in, you can capture their attention and keep them engaged. We thus built a solution that allows businesses to act on data from user behaviour and deliver content, products and recommendations that are more relevant to each individual user as a result.
This concept wasn’t new to me; growing up in London, my Dad was a green grocer, and knew each of his customers personally. He knew their likes and dislikes, and even how to communicate with them differently. No two of his customers were the same, and he succeeded by working with them each, individually. I wanted to take that experience and translate it to today’s digital world, at scale, and over time. The goal being to provide businesses the power to leverage users’ preferences, their unique digital likes and dislikes and – at the end of the day – use that knowledge to communicate to them as if they were a customer in a small shop.
What drives both of these experiences isn’t just the data, but it’s the actionable use of that data to power informed recommendations and decisions. Here at Marigold Engage by Sailthru, we call that power “Smart Data.” Unlike Big Data, which merely exists in a passive state and can often be overwhelming, Smart Data powers decisions. It’s the basis for a fundamental shift in communication and why we’ve seen businesses trust Marigold Engage by Sailthru for their communications, across all digital channels, in real-time. Smart Data is what allows a brand to connect with each individual, exactly as it should, thereby increasing their customer engagement and building long term, meaningful relationships.
It’s with that focus that I’m excited to announce today that we’ve raised $19MM in financing, a round led by Benchmark and supported by many of our previous investors, including RRE, DFJ Gotham and AOL Ventures. We’ll be using these funds to continue to accelerate our growth as a company, both in terms of adding world-class talent and building our infrastructure to scale our rapidly-expanding client base. In fact, this past year has been unprecedented; we’ve grown revenue by 270% with an average monthly growth rate of over 9%. We’ve more than doubled our staff in the past months, and our 85+ employees are based in both our New York headquarters and also in our new San Francisco office. Later this year, we’ll be opening an office in London and continuing to add the best of the best to the unique Sailthru culture we’re proud to call our own.
We’re excited about Smart Data. We’re confident that by providing companies the tools to focus on the individual, their businesses will thrive. We’ve grown this company by helping many of our clients grow theirs; from Fab to Totsy to AOL, we celebrate their accomplishments and are proud to have played a part in their success. And we’ll be continuing this trend, introducing new products and features over the coming months that will help our clients optimize every experience with their customers on a case-by-case basis. We’ll also be connecting directly with more of you in person, introducing a Smart Series where leaders will provide insight on how they’re disrupting their respective industries by approaching problems in a smarter way. And in early June, we’re hosting the first Smart Data Conference here in New York, bringing together experts to discuss innovations in technology that are shaping the way we communicate and interact with the world around us.
We welcome you to Engage with Smart Data.
Thanks,
Neil