SAN DIEGO, Calif. – September 23, 2016 – Certona, the leader in omnichannel personalization solutions for the world’s largest brands and retailers, today announced a $30 million growth investment and minority recapitalization led by Primus Capital, a private equity firm based in Cleveland and Atlanta. The funding will be used to grow market share, accelerate product development and expand services and support for existing and new clients.
Certona pioneered the use of patented machine learning and predictive algorithms for real-time profiling of individual shoppers across various digital retail channels. Within 3-4 clicks on a site, Certona’s personalization platform enables retailers to accurately predict the next best action for the shopper to deliver the most relevant, in-the-moment shopping experience. As a result, Certona’s clients experience significant improvements in customer engagement, conversions and sales.
“The digital commerce industry is experiencing rapid growth due to ever-increasing consumer demand,” said Geoffrey Hueter, Ph.D., CTO and co-founder of Certona. “This funding will enable us to fuel strategic initiatives around new market opportunities, product innovations and support offerings.” Meyar Sheik, CEO and co-founder of Certona, added, “We look forward to working with Primus as our strategic partner to bring capital and market perspective to help Certona with this exciting growth stage. Primus’ track record of success with SaaS companies will be extremely valuable in further scaling the business over time.”
Certona, founded in 2004, now serves over 40 billion personalized consumer experiences a month for many of the world’s leading brands and retailers, leveraging data from every consumer engagement point. The investment from Primus will enable Certona to continue its impressive track record of innovation while expanding to new markets and geographies.
“As digital commerce takes a larger share of the overall retail market, Certona continues to set the pace by providing robust, best-of-breed personalization solutions to an impressive retail client base. We are excited about Certona’s growth prospects and impressed with the company’s solid business fundamentals and strong leadership team,” said Ron Hess, Director at Primus. Vasant Kamath, Principal at Primus, added, “Certona’s award-winning product suite and predictive analytical capabilities sets the company apart in the e-commerce technology space. We are confident that our partnership will further the company’s market leadership and benefit its clients by individualizing the way shoppers engage with retailers and brands, regardless of channel or touchpoint.” As part of the recapitalization, Hess and Kamath will join the Certona board of directors.