Lytics Gets Funds, Hires Former Webtrends Execs

In the US, digital marketing and consumer data specialist Lytics has raised $7m in a Series A round of funding which it will use for product development, recruitment and expansion. The firm has also appointed three former Webtrends execs to its senior management team.

Portland, OR-based Lytics, which was founded last year by former Webtrends employees James McDermott and Aaron Raddon, provides a marketing activation platform that gathers customer behavior data from a variety of digital touch points to create 'SmartAudience' segments. The system then applies a proprietary combination of machine learning, data science and predictive analytics to help marketers target audiences across web, mobile, e-mail and social media channels.

New funding has been led by Comcast Ventures, with participation from prior investors Rembrandt Venture Partners and Voyager Capital, and a number of new investors, and brings the company's total venture capital investment to $9.2m. McDermott (pictured) comments: 'We're bringing a technology platform to market that solves problems marketers have struggled with since digital marketing began and are in a position to completely redefine the way consumer brands captivate and reach their audiences.'

The firm has hired Mike Keister as Vice President of Sales; Kevin Bobowski as Vice President of Marketing; and Elizabeth Robillard as Vice President of Customer Success. Keister has more than fifteen years' digital marketing sales experience, having previously worked at mobile relationship management firm Urban Airship, and held various leadership positions at Webtrends, Jive Software and Tripwire. Bobowski is a software executive who most recently led global marketing and sales development at Offerpop, before which he held senior roles at Webtrends and ExactTarget. Robillard's background includes digital and mobile marketing experience gained at Urban Airship, Webtrends and SiteSpect.

McDermott adds: 'Mike, Kevin and Elizabeth's combined experience allows Lytics to capture the massive market opportunity ahead of us. Their exceptional work at other market leading software companies will allow us to scale our business - propelling us towards our vision of making data useful for every marketer.'

Web site: www.getlytics.com .