Hightouch Secures $80M Series C to Enhance AI Marketing Solutions for Businesses

Hightouch's Impressive Funding Round

Hightouch has recently announced a significant milestone in its growth journey, securing an impressive $80 million in Series C funding, pushing its valuation to $1.2 billion. This funding round was spearheaded by Sapphire Ventures, with backing from notable investors including NVC, ICONIQ Growth, Amplify Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, and Y Combinator.

This influx of capital marks a pivotal moment for Hightouch as it focuses on enhancing its AI Decisioning product. This innovative solution empowers marketers to achieve business objectives efficiently. By simply entering a business goal, AI agents can deliver optimized marketing experiences aimed at fulfilling that specific objective.

Hightouch’s revenue growth has been impressive, more than doubling in the past year, aided by the successful integration of AI Decisioning into its suite of products. The company has attracted leading enterprise clients, including well-known names like PetSmart, Spotify, and Accor Hotels, who have all sought to leverage Hightouch's capabilities to personalize their marketing strategies.

Tejas Manohar, co-founder and co-CEO of Hightouch, shares his insights on the evolving landscape of marketing. "For years, the aim has been to achieve personalized experiences. However, traditional marketing approaches can often be slow, manual, and lead to irrelevant customer interactions. We envision a future where AI helps marketers to escape the confines of manual processes. Rather than relying on rigid marketing plans, businesses can input broader goals and allow AI agents to determine the most effective strategies. This fundamentally shifts the marketer's role."

Organizations are increasingly turning to AI Decisioning to reach objectives that have historically been challenging to attain through conventional methods. Bradley Breuer, Vice President of Marketing, Loyalty, CRM, and Insights at PetSmart, emphasizes the impact of this technology on customer retention. He notes, "Our loyalty program boasts over 70 million members, and the integration of AI Decisioning allows us to customize marketing messages for each member. This helps in strengthening our relationships with customers, creating a more engaging experience, and ultimately driving growth."

The versatility of AI Decisioning is particularly noteworthy. Designed to be agnostic, it seamlessly integrates with existing enterprise data and marketing frameworks. It can operate effectively from any data warehouse or Customer Data Platform (CDP), facilitating actions across a variety of marketing and digital platforms, including Salesforce, Adobe, Iterable, and Braze.

Hightouch’s model employs advanced techniques such as reinforcement learning to tailor the optimal message, channel, and timing for individual consumers. This method automates the experimentation process, significantly cutting down on time-consuming manual A/B testing and ensuring that brands remain relevant to their audience's needs.

Kashish Gupta, co-founder and co-CEO, elaborated on the practical applications of AI Decisioning, stating, "Our primary focus is on enhancing customer loyalty and purchase frequency. In today's market, it is essential for brands to maintain their relevance, and we believe that agent-driven marketing is the answer. By tailoring experiences to individual customers, we ensure that marketing strategies resonate on a personal level."

With this latest round of funding, Hightouch aims to bolster its engineering, product, and market-oriented teams to enhance enterprise adoption of its Composable CDP and expedite the development of AI Decisioning across Fortune 500 companies.

About Hightouch

Hightouch stands at the forefront of the Composable CDP and AI Decisioning landscape, enabling businesses to harness their data warehouses to fuel personalized marketing and operational strategies. Supported by major brands like Autotrader, Spotify, and PetSmart, Hightouch empowers organizations to deliver tailored customer experiences, optimize marketing efforts, and utilize data-driven insights swiftly and efficiently.

About Sapphire Ventures

Sapphire Ventures is a global leader in software venture capital management, boasting over $10 billion in assets under management. For over a decade, the firm has been instrumental in partnering with visionary teams and venture funds, facilitating significant market growth and innovation across a diverse portfolio of over 170 companies worldwide.