Amplero, a Seattle startup that makes artificial intelligence-powered marketing technology, has picked up $17.5 million in a new round of funding.
The Series B round was led by Greycroft Partners and Ignition Partners, with participation from existing investors Wildcat Venture Partners, Seven Peaks Ventures, and Trilogy Equity Partners. The round brings Amplero, which spun out of Globys last year, to approximately $25 million in lifetime funding.
Amplero says its AI-based marketing tools go beyond other automation programs because they can quickly test and analyze thousands of scenarios designed to optimize every customer interaction and maximize customer lifetime value and loyalty. The 40-person company focuses its efforts on consumer-facing businesses, and some of its major customers include Sprint, Virgin Mobile, Microsoft/Xbox, BECU and DoubleDown Interactive.
The company plans to use the cash infusion to support global expansion of its AI marketing technology. Today, Amplero is in a variety of industries, including telecom, gaming, financial services, consumer software, retail, media and entertainment and travel and hospitality.
Amplero CEO Olly Downs previously served as chief scientist at AdReady, Atigeo and Mindset Media, and he also worked as principal scientist at Microsoft traffic navigation startup INRIX. He said Amplero launched last year with a “vision of leveraging artificial intelligence to fundamentally transform how machines and humans work in tandem to reinvent the modern customer experience.”
AI is among the hottest technologies today, and Amplero’s investors see it as a must for brands in the current marketing environment. “Brands investing in AI for marketing are poised to thrive in this competitive landscape. As more companies are faced with a massive proliferation of data and increasing demands for personalized experiences from consumers, Amplero offers a solid solution to better understand the customer,” Bob Kelly, managing partner at Ignition, said in a statement.
Added Mark Terbeek, partner at Greycroft: “Essentially, brands that aren’t focused on cultivating long-term relationships and customer value metrics are at risk from category outsiders like Amazon, Google, and Facebook—at any point.”
In its funding announcement, Amplero cited a report from IDC, which found worldwide revenues for cognitive and AI systems are up 60 percent this year. Marketing is a key piece of that. Companies are increasingly looking for ways to quickly analyze these oceans of available data to create personalized customer experiences.
