Raydiant, the leading in-location experience management platform for brick-and-mortar enterprises, today announced it has raised a $30 million Series B funding round led by 8VC and Atomic Ventures, with participation from Lerer Hippeau, Gaingels, Mark Wahlberg, Illuminate Ventures, and XRC. The funds will be used to continue innovating the company’s product offerings through strategic acquisitions, as well as hire key team members to execute on Raydiant’s go-to market strategy as the company moves up-market.
“Raydiant was born as a digital signage company with a mission to modernize the brick-and-mortar tool stack so that brands can thrive in our new experience-driven world. We’ve since evolved into a full-service platform powered by AI, and the leader in the in-location experience management space,” said Bobby Marhamat, CEO at Raydiant. “This increase in funding will help us continue to drive the future of in-location experiences for both in-store customers and back of house employees on a global scale. The pandemic has changed the way we shop and engage with brands, and brick-and-mortar organizations need to evolve if they’re going to keep their doors open. But they can’t do it alone. We’re thrilled to receive support from partners who value our mission to support brick-and-mortar in a way that no one else can. We’re excited for this next growth chapter and the opportunity to reimagine the retail experience as we know it.”
Raydiant’s 2021 State of In-Store Experience study revealed that even during the pandemic, 48% of consumers say they prefer to shop in-person at a physical store when given the choice. According to the 2021 State of Consumer Behavior report, 90% of consumers are more likely to return to a store if they have a positive in-location customer experience, and 61% are likely to spend more, which indicates that in-person experiences directly impact brick-and-mortar businesses’ success. “Unfortunately, brick-and-mortar business owners are struggling to deploy and analyze meaningful customer experiences, as startups have been racing to build these solutions for the web, leaving brick-and-mortars with fragmented options that are really challenging to implement,” continues Marhamat.
Raydiant solves this problem by helping brick-and-mortars create, manage, deliver, and now with the recent acquisition of Sightcorp’s AI-powered shopper intelligence solution, measure customized offline experiences from plug-and-play digital signage to self-service kiosks and interactive virtual agents. The platform provides dynamic, optimized content on screens powered by real-time audience and performance data insights.
Since Raydiant raised its Series A round in January, 2021, the company has made significant progress to grow their team and accelerate the product roadmap. The company has scaled to nearly 4,500 customers (ranging from local SMBs to enterprise brick-and-mortar organizations), has grown its application marketplace to more than 100 partners, and successfully closed two major acquisitions (Hoopla and Sightcorp) that enable Raydiant customers to better engage their back of house staff and measure what matters.
Raydiant and Sightcorp jointly enable brands to create personalized on-screen, in-location experiences that generate anonymous audience and performance analytics to help them increase audience engagement, deliver valuable content, enhance messaging, and more.
“The pandemic has shown us how critical it is for brick-and-mortar businesses to connect with their customers and employees in order to keep their doors open,” explains Drew Oetting, Founding Partner at 8VC. “Raydiant has created a platform that fills the gaps for retailers, restaurants, and more, allowing these brands to provide the best possible in-location experience that offers relevant, personalized, and interactive content that is vital in any successful omnichannel strategy. We’re proud to back the company as it continues to foster true innovation in its space.”
Raydiant has achieved 357% year over year growth and 99.99% platform uptime in 2021. The company has grown its team to over 100 employees in 2021, with the majority of hires taking place over the last six months, and plans to expand its global headcount by 300% in 2022.
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