A pioneer zero-party data marketing company driven by artificial intelligence (AI), Octane AI, has raised $5 million in a round led by Javelin Venture Partners, the company behind these investments are Masterclass and Thumbtack, along with existing participants such as Bullpen Capital, General Catalyst and Boost Venture Capital.
Matt Schlicht, Octane AI CEO and Co-Founder, said, “With the spotlight on privacy today, the smartest companies and brands in the world are shifting their marketing strategies from a cookie-tracking approach to zero-party data. Instead of relying on third parties, brands should give customers the choice to share meaningful personal information proactively in order to build a relationship based on deep personalization and trust. Ecommerce quizzes and conversational pop-ups are a great way to enable zero-party data collection, and our goal at Octane AI is to help brands provide personalized shopping experiences, supporting their customers with discovering the best products for their preferences, needs, tastes, and pain points.”
Furthermore, the company announced that Alex Gurevich, Managing Director at Javelin Venture Partners, will become a Board Observer, as well as adding a new VP of Finance and Operations, and adding Vincent Silvey as the company’s first Vice President of Engineering. Through the new funding and leadership additions, The Company will be able to further drive product development, innovation, and growth as it carries out its mission of personalizing the shopping experience.
Ben Parr, Octane AI President and Co-Founder, stated, “We’re so thrilled to have Javelin, Vince and Alex join our team, particularly at this crucial time of change and opportunity for eCommerce marketers to find a new data strategy. Instead of borrowing or paying for data, this is the time to own your data by saying goodbye to third parties and joining the zero-party data movement! We are excited to be at the forefront of this and keep scaling our platform to meet marketers’ demands and build true partnerships with Shopify merchants that fuel their growth and success.”
With this new round of funding, the company has raised $14 million in total funding since its launch last year, the recognition by Shopify as an award-winning storefront app, and welcoming Shopify as a customer. To help merchants find the right hardware for their business, Shopify launched an Octane AI Shop Quiz in June.
