Bengaluru: Customer intelligence platform (CIP) Zeotap announced today an oversubscribed $42 million Series C round following 431% growth in revenue run rate in the previous accounting year. The new funding reflects Zeotap’s achievements in building a leading platform that enables brands to connect and transform their first-party data into actionable customer intelligence in more than a dozen countries. Half the new investment was secured this year; the remainder was raised last year from existing backers. In addition, Eric Roza, former leader of Datalogix and Oracle Data Cloud, has joined Zeotap’s Board of Directors.
“Zeotap is the most important data platform to emerge in years. Unlike legacy data and identity vendors, Zeotap offers a robust, integrated CIP in 8 of the top 10 global markets. I’m thrilled to join the team and confident we’ll become a key partner to virtually every multinational marketer over the coming years,” said Eric Roza, Zeotap’s newest Board Member.
Since its inception in 2014, Zeotap has evolved from a diversified data company to a SaaS-based customer intelligence platform (CIP) that enables companies to better understand their customers and predict behaviors, to invest in more meaningful experiences.
The latest institutional investors include:
- US, Israel and Germany-based VC firm Neue Capital
- The German state, European Investment Bank (EIB) and KfW-backed fund coparion
- Kathaka, Caroline Rupert’s family office
- MathCapital, martech-focused VC firm (affiliated with MediaMath)
- TTCER Partners, an investment partnership established by key founding team members and investors in Asurion, the world’s leading provider of technology protection and support services for mobile devices
In addition, Zeotap attracted several prominent business angels including Eric Roza, former leader of Datalogix and Oracle Data Cloud, Chris Scoggins, former GM at Oracle Data Cloud and Board Member at Kissmetrics and Samba TV, Taylor Barada, former VP of Corporate Development, Strategy and Strategic Partnerships at Adobe, Bernd Miehler, former EVP at TeamViewer, Andy Bursky, Chairman at Atlas Holdings, and Jim Thoeni, current CRO at Zeotap and former AVP at Salesforce, among others. Existing investors that also participated include New Science Ventures, Capnamic Ventures, Iris Capital, HERE, Innov8 (Singtel), and IONIQ.
Zeotap’s platform comprehensively addresses marketers’ needs with an integrated suite of solutions for first-party data unification, identity resolution, enrichment, analytics/modeling (including in data clean rooms), and activation to 100+ partners in the marketing ecosystem.
With the new funding, Zeotap will not only continue to invest in its customer intelligence platform but will also double down on ID+, its recently launched universal marketing identity solution. The ID+ project will empower the marketing ecosystem ––brands, publishers, and vendors alike–– with a privacy-compliant mechanism to overcome identity resolution challenges arising from cookie/identifier restrictions and increasingly stringent regulation across the world.
As a German company, Zeotap was one of the first martech platforms to get GDPR-certified, by ePrivacy in 2016, and has continued to employ best-of-breed governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) measures across its platform, including those pertaining to the company’s long-standing ISO 27001 and CSA STAR certifications. In addition, many members of its legal and technology teams have secured CIPP and CIPT credentials, issued by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), as well as CCISO and CISSP certifications issued by EC-Council and (ISC)², respectively.
“Zeotap has always set the bar when it comes to quality and security. It is part of their DNA,” said Steffen Roehn, former CIO of Deutsche Telekom and one of the earliest angel investors in Zeotap.
“As custodians of our clients’ most valuable assets, we continue to push the envelope in ensuring their protection,” added Projjol Banerjea (CIPT), founder and CPO at Zeotap.
“Once again, some of the world’s most established investors have placed their trust in us,” said Zeotap founder and CEO Daniel Heer. “In a tumultuous time for the industry, this will allow us to continue on our mission to deliver solutions to marketers’ most pressing problems.”
Zeotap works with over 70 of the top 100 global brands, including Mercedes Benz, Red Bull, BBVA, Orange Telecom, and Vodafone. It has won several industry awards, such as Best Data-Enabling Technology (2019) from AdExchanger, and was recognized by Gartner as a “Cool Vendor” (2020). The company’s global footprint spans more than a dozen countries in Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia.
