Yotpo, an Israeli marketing platform, has raised $51 million in a financing round led by ClalTech, a division of Israeli industrial group Access Industries, and thus bringing total funding to $101 million for the Tel Aviv-headquartered company.
The financing round included full participation from new investor Vertex Ventures to existing Bessemer Venture Partners, Marker LLC, Vintage Partners, Blumberg Capital, Rhodium and 2B Angels.
Founded in 2011, Yotpo is a leading platform for businesses to gather user-generated content like reviews, photos, and Q&A for their marketing efforts — to build a stronger brand and better customer experience. It works with thousands of brands worldwide, from emerging startups to established enterprises.
The new funds will be used to continue global expansion, with the opening of a second US office in Salt Lake City and to employ 150 extra people as well as to invest in further product development, focusing on Artificial Intelligence and machine learning technologies. According to the company, it has quadrupled its revenues over the last 20 months.
“For us, AI isn’t a buzzword but a core technology already powering our solution today. But we’re also seeing a real opportunity to incorporate deep learning to solve the most pressing challenges of commerce businesses,” said Tomer Tagrin, CEO, and Co-founder of Yotpo.
Through a combination of technology, integrations, and partnerships, Yotpo gives businesses the ability to effectively leverage customer content throughout the buyer journey to increase trust, social proof, and sales. “We’re living in a post-Amazon world where even big, established brands are collapsing because it’s impossible to compete with Amazon on price or fulfillment,” says Tomer Tagrin. The only way to continue to meet the demands of the fastest-growing brands in the post-Amazon world, and to change the face of eCommerce is through customer experience and building an authentic brand that people truly care about and talk about.”
