Paris-based SendinBlue, a developer of a cloud-based digital marketing platform, announced that it has acquired three e-commerce marketing companies for $47M (approx €40M). With these acquisitions, the company plans to expand its e-commerce offerings for SMBs.
The acquired companies include US-based Chatra, a live chat messenger app for businesses designed to increase online sales; Bulgaria-based Metrilo, a customer analytics and intelligent marketing platform for e-commerce stores; and Canada-based Shopify’s top application that offers web push notifications, PushOwl – based out of Bangalore, India.
Armand Thiberge, founder of SendinBlue says, “Acquiring Metrilo, Chatra, and PushOwl are part of SendinBlue’s longer-term vision to expand our marketing capabilities and dive into the growing e-commerce space. Now, our all-in-one digital marketing solution will become even more powerful, enabling these businesses to expedite sales and drive strategic business decisions.”
The acquisitions follow SendinBlue’s capital raise of $160M in September 2020, in a Series B round to drive product expansion and increase growth in the North American market.
What does SendinBlue do?
SendinBlue was founded in 2012 by Armand Thiberge. The company is a developer of a cloud-based digital marketing platform used to meet the demand of businesses to engage with customers.
The platform offers all-in-one digital marketing solutions developed for small and medium-sized businesses, covering tools such as email, SMS, marketing automation, sales management, and live chat. The company supports more than 300,000 active users across 160 countries.
Since its 2017 funding round, SendinBlue has expanded from 100 to 400 employees globally and opened offices in Toronto after establishing a presence in Seattle to cater to the US – the company’s fastest-growing market. Previously, the company had also acquired MailClark and Newsletter2Go, and developed an enterprise offering to meet the growing needs of larger brands.
About Chatra, Metrilo, PushOwl
Metrilo was founded in 2014 by Murry Ivanoff and Peter Iliev. It is a marketing and sales analytics SaaS platform for e-merchants. The solution helps brands grow online, using the power of their data and focus on customer retention. The company thus makes it possible to study traffic, sales, visitor and customer behavior, product performance, and conversion funnels.
Chatra, was founded in 2015 by Yaakov Karda, Maria Karda, Artem Polikarpov, and Slava Olesik. It is a messaging platform for SMBs. The company provides its customers with a centralised platform for all interactions with customers, be it live chat, emails, or social media. Customers can also access analytics on website visits and user profiles, which helps them improve the quality of their services.
PushOwl was founded in 2016 by Shashank Kumar. Based out of India, the company allows e-commerce stores to enable web push notifications as a marketing channel, turning visitors into subscribers, and driving more revenue. With the app, customers can send marketing campaigns, set up automated flows, recover abandoned carts, personalise their promotions, and constantly optimise their strategy with granular metrics and reporting.
Aim of these acquisitions
Steffen Schebesta, CEO of North America and VP of Corporate Development, SendinBlue says, “Pandemic-era restrictions prompted many small and medium-sized businesses to pivot – to digitise their marketing efforts and invest in e-commerce strategies. The global crisis resulted in a shift in consumer purchasing behavior. Online shopping increased by more than 46 per cent, and with the acquisition of Chatra, Metrilo, and PushOwl, we’re meeting the needs of these businesses.”
The company says the US consumers are expected to spend more than $933B on e-commerce in 2021. Therefore, SendinBlue’s expanded offerings will act as a sales accelerator to help small and medium-sized businesses digitally compete on a larger scale.
With these acquisitions, SendinBlue now has more than 500 employees and two more offices in Sofia and Bangalore, in addition to its offices in Seattle, Paris, Berlin, Noida, and Toronto. Additionally, the company plans to further grow its team and is planning to hire 80 new talents.
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