In order to be successful in brand marketing, every customer interaction must count and brands now see the best rate of return when engaging consumers through personalized, mobile messages. Attentive is the two-way, messaging platform that is expertly designed to help brands optimize mobile messaging. Attentive uses real-time behavioral data so brands can send the most fitting text message to consumers, at the right time. Attentive is rolling out its patent-pending “two-tap” sign up to pre-populate a text message, making it seamless for consumers to subscribe to relevant messaging. The platform is already being used by 400+ companies like ELOQUII, Sephora, Urban Outfitters, Coach, CB2, and Jack in the Box; with and its client base growing 8x in the past year alone.
AlleyWatch chatted with Cofounder and CEO Brian Long. Long has a history of success in the mobile marketing space – his first company, TapCommerce, was acquired by Twitter in 2014. Today, we discuss Attentive’s exciting trajectory, future growth plans, and recent round of funding (led by Sequoia), which brings the total funding raised to $53M.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We’re excited to share that we’ve raised a $40 million Series B investment led by Sequoia, along with participation from existing investors Bain Capital Ventures, Eniac Ventures, and NextView Ventures. Two new investors also joined—IVP and High Alpha, a venture fund led by Scott Dorsey, the former CEO & Cofounder of Exact Target, which was acquired by Salesforce.
Tell us about the product or service that Attentive offers.
Attentive is a personalized, two-way mobile messaging platform that helps innovative brands interact with consumers in real-time. We use behavioral data to automatically send engaging text messages to each subscriber at every step of the customer lifecycle.
How is Attentive different?
From the beginning, our mission has been to build a thoughtful and authentic communication channel that benefits brands and consumers equally. We help brands quickly grow a mobile messaging list using tools like our patent-pending “two-tap” sign-up, which seamlessly loads a pre-populated text message to make it easy for new subscribers to opt-in. Then, we help brands interact with consumers throughout the customer lifecycle—whether through abandoned cart reminders, new product alerts, or even customer service via text.
For most brands, mobile messaging is a new space. We have a dedicated Client Strategy team who is focused on helping our customers launch a mobile messaging channel and continually optimizing their Attentive programs. We’ve been in the mobile marketing space since the creation of our first company, TapCommerce, which was acquired by Twitter in 2014.
For most brands, mobile messaging is a new space. We have a dedicated Client Strategy team who is focused on helping our customers launch a mobile messaging channel and continually optimizing their Attentive programs. We’ve been in the mobile marketing space since the creation of our first company, TapCommerce, which was acquired by Twitter in 2014.
What market does Attentive target and how big is it?
We work with 400+ mid-market and enterprise retail brands, including Sephora, Urban Outfitters, Coach, CB2, and Jack in the Box.
What’s your business model?
Attentive is a performance marketing channel, so ultimately we’re focused on providing a return on spend. We target 10x+ ROI for each of our clients.
How has the business changed since we chatted after Attentive’s Series A round last year?
We’ve experienced exponential growth since raising our Series A round. Our client list has grown 8x in the last year and we’ve expanded our suite of solutions to meet growing market demands. To support this rapid growth, we’ve significantly scaled our own team by expanding our headquarters in New York City while establishing team members in Los Angeles, Boston, Denver, and Atlanta.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Our biggest challenge was ensuring that our fast growth was sustained as we worked on our next major step. While we were raising our Series B, we were continuing to sign and launch some of our largest clients and roll out new products. Placing trust across your entire team is extremely important always, but especially when fundraising.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Our investors recognized that the shift to mobile is a fundamental, behavioral change in the way brands and consumers interact. Our team’s experience, the market opportunity, and the kind of success our customers are seeing were influencing factors in the investment.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
This round of funding allows us to significantly scale our existing operations to meet market demand. We’re hiring across all teams—especially engineering and sales—to accelerate product development and customer growth.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Our goal is to continue to find innovative ways to meet the needs of both brands and consumers through mobile messaging. In the near term, we’re focused on growing our team and launching new product features that drive even more powerful performance results for our customers.
Where is your favorite bar in the city for an after-work drink?
Bleecker Street Bar—it’s a lowkey place to unwind.
