INVESTING IN PREDICTIVE AI TECHNOLOGIES AND GLOBAL EXPANSION: HOW WE PLAN TO USE OUR NEW FUNDING ROUND TO BOOST DIGITAL HAPPINESS

One week ago I was in the middle of the French countryside with the entire Contentsquare team, looking back at our biggest year yet, and discussing our vision for the future. The reason we do this each year — bring over 300 people from all over the world, all together for three days of ideation and team building — is because every single member of this team has an important role to play in the Contentsquare story.

And it’s a good story. It’s the story of a project turned award-winning experience analytics solution with 300+ clients and a growing global foothold in less than six years. It’s the story of one idea born from a passion for data and statistics becoming 320 people, of adding four offices in New York, London, Munich and San Francisco to our Paris base, and of terrific growth — between 100% to 150% year-on-year over the last six years.

It’s a story of smart people sharing the same values of ambition, uniqueness, innovation, team spirit and enthusiasm to create something very special with the potential to make a huge mark on a market estimated to reach $10 billion by 2020. Six years ago, when we started on this adventure, experience analytics were barely a category, but as digital marketing spend continues to shift from acquisition to conversion optimization, the need for understanding digital behavior has crystallized.

And last but not least, it’s the story of a technology that is trying to transform the way people work, by computing every user interaction to provide one-click instant analytics, insights and recommendations to digital, eCommerce and marketing teams, so they have everything they need at their fingertips to improve engagement, conversion and revenue.

At last year’s all-company retreat, one year after our first round of $20M, I announced to the team that we had secured a $40M investment to further develop our solution, and propel our expansion into new global markets. A lot has happened in twelve months. We’ve accelerated our growth in the US, opened new offices, onboarded more than 100 new team members, and overall doubled our business. We’ve also consolidated our solution and launched around 20 new product features, including CS Live, which turns your own site into a dashboard, AI Alerts, which automatically identifies risk and business opportunities, and CS for Apps to analyze the mobile experience.

“One thing has remained the same: we are still as CUSTOMER-OBSESSED as we were six years ago.”

But throughout all this change and growth, one thing has remained the same: we are still as CUSTOMER-OBSESSED as we were six years ago. Our number one priority is creating value for the brands that rely on our insights to enrich their customers’ experience, and grow their business.

And that’s why today, I am thrilled to share the news that our existing investors have decided to invest a further $60M in Contentsquare, so we can keep doing the great work we do, and continue pushing the boundaries of innovation in our space — a CX analytics market that is experiencing a major growth spurt.

Customer-obsession is on everyone’s lips these days. It’s no longer enough to simply offer digital paths to purchase — consumers today are spoiled for choice, and when it comes to experience, they won’t settle for anything less than the perfect combination of engaging and painless.

That’s where we come in. Understanding the consumer, seeing the digital experience through their eyes, and identifying what causes frustration or fosters engagement are key to successful experience-building. That’s why we develop unique metrics, and use AI to extract the deep insights that help brands understand the pattern behind behaviors, and improve the customer experience at every digital touchpoint.

Six years ago we started working on a solution to measure engagement on the websites of a handful of clients. Today, we are perfecting a system of predictive insights in anticipation of the needs and challenges of brands tomorrow. How? Because we are passionate about data, because we put client feedback at the heart of our R&D, because we invest heavily in innovation and talent, and because we understand that the way to revolutionize customer experience is by democratizing the tools that measure engagement. To this purpose we created our Research Labs, dedicated to supporting 12 to 48-month projects.

That’s why this new round of funding is not simply an investment in a future-looking software company — it’s an investment in the brands that are leveraging data to shape the experiences of tomorrow. Because while the experiences of tomorrow may be completely different to the experiences of today, they’re still going to have to be rich, seamless and captivating.

So what are we going to do with this investment? For one we’re going to continue pumping resources into our innovation labs and R&D. We’re also going to recruit 150 new talents to grow the US and our existing markets, but also to penetrate new areas like Asia, South and North Europe, and the Middle East, and develop more partnerships everywhere.

I always think it is important to never forget where we came from. With more power comes more responsibility. We have raised more than $120M in the last three years. I know that all of us at Contentsquare will go beyond ourselves to make our clients — and the billions of people who are browsing everyday — happy.

It’s been an exciting year. And I predict it’s just the start of the story…