On Our Radar: Localytics

Henry Cipolla: Cipolla leads the engineering team and oversees the technology vision for Localytics. Before Localytics, he spent several years in the Windows Core OS division at Microsoft, contributing to its app analytics service, where his team received several Microsoft Engineering Excellence awards including the prestigious Chairman's award. His development experience covers many areas including software and systems for banks and universities. Cipolla is also a race car enthusiast. He graduated from Boston University with a bachelor of arts in computer science.

Brian Suthoff: Suthoff oversees strategic alliances and partnerships. He led the Localytics early market and product development and built successful relationships with brands including CVS, The New York Times and Weather Channel. Before Localytics, he led business development at Third Screen Media, the largest premium mobile advertising platform when acquired by AOL in 2007. Previously, Suthoff held senior roles in business development and product management at startups and Fortune 500 companies including Alcatel, Watercove Networks and Sprint. He has an MBA in international business from The George Washington University School of Business.

Headquartered in: Boston

Number of employees: 250

Number of customers: Localytics supports more than 6,000 customers and reaches 37,000 apps, 2.7 billion devices and 120 billion data points monthly.

Awards/recognition: Entrepreneur 360: Localytics was named a Forward Thinkers in Entrepreneur Magazine’s  Entrepreneur360 Performance Index. Inc. 500, 2015: Localytics came in at No. 274 in Inc.'s list of the top private companies in the US. This year's list measures revenue growth from 2011 to 2014. Digiday Signal Awards, 2015: Localytics was named a finalist in the Mobile Marketing Platform category in Digiday's Signal Awards. MassTLC Leadership Awards for Innovative Technology of the Year, Big Data, 2015: Localytics was named a finalist for the MassTLC Leadership Awards in the Innovative Technology of the Year category for Big Data. Forbes America’s Most Promising Companies: Localytics came in at No. 96 in Forbes list of America’s Most Promising Companies for 2015.

When was your latest major platform release, and what did it entail? In October, Localytics launched Predictions to counter app user churn and boosts conversions. In November, Localytics launched True Impact to help marketers understand the impact of campaigns on driving meaningful and long-term engagement, conversion and lifetime value.

What is one thing you have that no one else does in this space? We’re the only mobile engagement platform built on a foundation of analytics. We provide our customers with the richest, most robust set of data that exists and integrate those insights directly into our marketing capabilities so that our customers have the deep insights and targeting required for delivering, measuring and optimizing personalized engagement campaigns. 

For instance, True Impact, our most recent product launch, is the first product to quantify the full business impact of app marketing campaigns, allowing marketers to understand how each mobile marketing campaign impacts KPIs like engagement, conversion and revenue over time.

What can we expect in terms of innovation in 2016?

This year, we'll be doubling down on the data that drives and optimizes great engagement. First, we'll be enhancing the data sources and the predictions that power our audience targeting, which will enable our customers to realize meaningful personalization. Next, we'll expand on last year's launch of True Impact. We'll give our customers even more powerful measurement and optimization tools, helping ensure that they do more of what's working, and less of what isn't, toward the metrics that matter most to their business.

Total funding to date? A $35 million Series D round last March brought total investment to date to $60 million.

Customer take: Matt Coohill, game director of Backflip Studios, said his company needed teams to be more effective with their data-driven designs. "All team members needed quick access to data in a clear interface that was easy to manipulate," Coohill told CMSWire. "Our previous analytical solution only provided high-level information without the ability to drill further into the data." 

Accessible analytics equal addiction to being data-driven, Coohill said. "Localytics provides our teams," Coohill said, "with data consistency across a wide variety of products, the ability to understand user behavior and needs and tools every team member can use to increase their contribution to making award-winning products."