ATLANTA, website like this Aug 16, 2010Â — Cardlytics, the pioneer of transaction marketing, announced today that it has raised $18 million in new equity to support its rapid expansion. New investors ITC Holdings and Kinetic Ventures led this round of financing and all previous investors participated including Canaan Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, and Total Technology Ventures. Concurrent with the financing, Campbell B. Lanier of ITC Holdings and Kinetic Ventures has joined the Cardlytics Board of Directors.
“Our exceptionally strong direct marketing performance coupled with the rapid expansion of our Financial Institution footprint positioned the company to attract significant capital from strategic new investors,” said Scott Grimes, CEO of Cardlytics. “Mr. Lanier, with his deep experience in growing and governing high growth businesses, is an exciting addition to the board.”
The additional financing comes at a time when demand for the Cardlytics platform has surged among leading national and regional retailers and service providers. Cardlytics’ transaction marketing platform is a strategic channel for advertisers to connect with consumers via the broadly used and trusted on-line banking channel. “Transaction marketing presents an enormous opportunity for retailers as its use of consumer transaction data allows them to target customer offers with an unprecedented level of accuracy,” said Jason Green, Principal with the Cambridge Group. “Demand for Cardlytics’ platform will continue to increase as more banks and retailers learn of this new channel’s effectiveness.”
Leveraging the Cardlytics platform, financial institutions will be providing retail offers to over 10 million consumers this fall. “We are working closely with our financial institutions to bring the benefits of transaction-marketing to all customers, even if they are not active on-line banking users. This influx of capital provides the resources to accelerate the introduction of our next generation of technology,” said Lynne Laube, President of Cardlytics.
“We are seeing the Cardlytics platform and transaction marketing redefine the concept of direct marketing,” said Lanier. “Retailers are able to increase loyalty and acquisition by accurately and efficiently presenting the most valuable offers to customers in a pay for performance model and financial institutions provide valuable rewards to their account holders at no cost.”
According to Ken Gronbach, a generational marketing expert, recent CNBC contributor and CEO of KGC Direct, “With transaction marketing, retailers now have access to a channel that drives real and measurable value. It affords marketers with an unprecedented ability to reach all targeted audiences, but especially the challenging Gen Y segment, with relevant rewards that retailers fund only when generating incremental sales.”
Cardlytics’ innovative platform continues to win industry accolades. In July, the company was named a 2010 Red Herring North America Top 100 award winner, a prestigious list that honors the year’s most promising 100 private technology ventures from the North American business region. In March 2010, Cardlytics was also named as a Top 10 Innovative Georgia Technology Company.
Morgan Keegan’s Revolution Partners Technology Investment Banking Group acted as financial advisor to Cardlytics in its funding round.
About ITC Holding Company
Founded in 1896, ITC Holding Company represents a century-long legacy of innovation in the widely diversified fields of telecommunications, technology, financial services, transaction processing, and real estate. ITC invests in entrepreneurs whose ideas and value systems are consistent with those of their founders. With a track record of backing innovative leaders with unique ideas, strong management teams, and demonstrated ability, the Company maintains a strategic goal of a minimum long term return to its shareholders of 20% annually. Successful ventures include early stage funding for Telecom USA, MindSpring, HeadHunter.net, Powertel, Knology, and Firethorn.
About Kinetic Ventures
Kinetic Ventures, with offices in Atlanta, GA and Chevy Chase, MD, is a leading venture capital investor in high growth, industry defining communications, information and power/clean technology companies. Since 1985 and via eight venture capital funds, Kinetic has partnered with outstanding entrepreneurs to build world-class enterprises. Kinetic is gratified to be partners with many remarkable entrepreneurs in the creation of industry defining companies like BroadWare, Calix, Cerent, Ciena, Corvis, Peace Software, PlaceWare, VerticalOne, Cyan Optics and others. For more information visit www.kineticventures.com.
About Canaan Partners
Canaan Partners invests in visionary entrepreneurs and provides them the networks, insights and operational guidance required to build high-performance technology and healthcare companies. Founded in 1987, the firm has raised eight funds and completed more than 78 acquisitions and 53 IPOs. With $3 billion under management and a worldwide footprint, the firm is committed to catalyzing the growth of innovative digital media, communications & mobility, enterprise and clean tech companies. Among its successes are Associated Content, the people’s media company; VOIP equipment supplier Acme Packet; CommerceOne, the company that pioneered B2B ecommerce; DoubleClick, the leading online advertising solution; Match.com, the most popular online dating site in the world; and SuccessFactors, the global leader in on-demand performance and talent management solutions. Other Canaan investments include 3Crowd, Active Networks, Blip.tv, Blurb, iYogi, Lending Club, ON24, OpenSky, Prime Sense, SOASTA, Tremor Media, TweetPhoto, Watercooler and Zoosk. Canaan has offices in California, Connecticut, India and Israel. For more information visit www.canaan.com.
About Polaris Venture Partners
Polaris Venture Partners is a partnership of experienced venture capital investors and technology executives. Our mission is to identify and invest in seed, first round, and early stage technology and life science businesses with exceptional promise and help them grow into sustainable, market-leading companies. In addition, Polaris is committed to providing growth equity and shareholder liquidity to established companies in the technology, healthcare, manufacturing, media, communications, and business services sectors. As a national venture capital firm with offices in the high-tech centers of Boston and Seattle, we’re able to invest in businesses throughout the United States and around the world. The firm has over $3 billion under management and current investments in more than 100 companies. For more information visit www.polarisventures.com.
About Total Technology Ventures
Total Technology Ventures (“TTV”) was founded in May of 2000 by Managing Partners Gardiner Garrard and Tom Smith. TTV is an Atlanta-based venture capital firm that provides capital primarily to early and expansion stage financial technology companies. The TTV team is a powerful combination of managing partners, advisory board members, and strategic partners. TTV uses this team-based approach to support its portfolio companies, enabling management teams to focus on their core strengths — building successful businesses. TTV targets companies where it can leverage the close relationships with its strategic partners: Synovus Financial Corp., TSYS, and CheckFree Corporation. We provide the capital, experience, resources, and the network to help companies excel. For more information visit www.ttvatlanta.com.
About Cardlytics
Through a highly relevant, “market-of-one” approach, Cardlytics unites banks and merchants to provide rich rewards to customers based on their individual purchase behavior. Its technology tracks consumers’ actual purchases, providing the first digital channel that can guarantee offline sales and help consumers realize savings of hundreds of dollars per year on the products they purchase every day. The rewards improve consumers’ banking behavior by increasing usage, reducing attrition and strengthening engagement with online banking. Cardlytics’ multi-channel approach includes online banking, SMS, e-mail, mobile, online-mall and social networks. For more information about Cardlytics, visit http://www.cardlytics.com/.
SOURCE: Cardlytics
For Cardlytics
Heather Sugg, 813-374-6362
or
Alex Shorter, 678-781-7207