Marketing messaging company Persado closed on $30 million in Series C funding this week. The round was led by Goldman Sachs and included an all-star cast of previous contributors, including American Express Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Citi Ventures, and StarVest Partners.
This is the company’s third round of funding since it was founded in 2012, bringing its total to $66 million.
The New York-based company offers software that uses algorithms to map emotions and create optimal marketing content for emails, websites, social media messages, and push notifications. It uses machine learning to determine the message that will generate the best response from the target audience. Co-founder and CEO Alex Vratskides says, “Persado is revolutionizing how organizations communicate by propelling creativity into the data-driven age, arming brands with ‘smart content’ that resonates with any audience, every time, and inspires them to act.”
At FinovateEurope 2016, the company’s Chief Revenue Officer Lawrence Whittle (below) launched Persado Go, an automated solution that offers business customers persuasive messaging in real-time via a self-service interface. In the demo, Whittle showed how a bank can create a marketing email to persuade dormant credit card clients to resume their relationship with the bank.
In a press release, Vratskides said the company will use the funding to invest in product distribution and development. Specifically, he plans to deliver messages in more communication channels and to expand the service into more sectors, such as healthcare messaging and civic engagement.