Segment, a customer data infrastructure company, announced it has raised $175 million in Series D funding co-led by existing investors Accel, GV, and new investor Meritech Capital. And Thrive Capital, Y Combinator Continuity, and eVentures also participated in the round with new investor Sapphire Ventures. Including this round, Segment has raised $284 million.
“CRMs and their associated suites are no longer able to deliver great customer experiences,” said Segment co-founder and CEO Peter Reinhardt. “With the rapid proliferation of new digital tools and customer touchpoints, the global market opportunity for Customer Data Infrastructure is huge. We are excited about this latest milestone, which will allow us to accelerate international growth and help even more businesses across the world put their customers first.”
Enterprises generally use dozens of business applications in their customer data stack, but they do not have data infrastructures necessary for integrating the applications seamlessly or they do not respect customer privacy preferences consistently. Segment’s technology enables businesses to deliver personalized customer experiences across every channel and touchpoint while also handling user privacy and preferences through first-party data.
“Segment transforms the way that businesses collect and manage customer data, with a particular emphasis on first-party data,” added Accel’s Vas Natarajan. “Combined with powerful governance and audience management tools, Segment is the backbone for how great companies sell, market, and support their customers. We are so excited to have led their original Series A as well as this latest round, and to support their continued growth.”
With this funding round, Segment will be accelerating global expansion by opening new offices across North America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific. And the company is going to significantly grow its team.
“Segment continues to be a growth machine driven by the rapid adoption of global enterprises with data-driven, customer-centric mindsets. The company’s traction among the Fortune 5000, strong international growth, and differentiated product suite solidifies Segment’s position as the leader in Customer Data Infrastructure,” explained GV general partner Dave Munichiello.
Segment is also going to further develop its Customer Data Infrastructure (CDI) as the technical foundation for customer-first businesses. Today thousands of businesses across 71 countries rely on Segment as the core foundation for their first-party customer data — which enables them to deliver highly relevant and connected experiences through every customer touchpoint. The funding will be used for accelerating the development and adoption of the CDI.
And Segment is going to invest in go-to-market activities and the Segment partner network. The investment will go towards customer growth across the board with a focus on expanding its enterprise customer base — which includes industry leaders like Intuit, IBM, 21st Century Fox, VMware, and Meredith.
Segment’s Customer Data Infrastructure is able to capture customer interactions from every business touchpoint and ensure that data is accurate and consistent across the organization. And that data can be automatically routed to hundreds of business applications across a company’s customer data stack.
“Today’s consumers see compelling, consistent, and personalized customer experiences as the new standard,” noted Meritech Capital founder and managing director Rob Ward. “By pioneering Customer Data Infrastructure, Segment is empowering businesses to meet these rising expectations in a way that is fast, efficient, and scalable. The company has had great traction to date, and we look forward to supporting the team through the next stages of rapid growth.”
