Optimizely raises $50 million Series D to expand its web experimentation platform
Optimizely, the San Francisco-based web experimentation company, announced this morning that it has secured $105 million in financing, including $50 million in Series D funding and a $55 million line of credit from Bridge Bank, to drive growth of its A/B and multivariate testing platform. The funding was led by Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing and also included Accenture Interactive as a strategic investing partner, bringing the company's total funding to $200 million.
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Optimizely was founded by two former Google product managers, Dan Siroker and Pete Koomen, following Siroker's work leading the analytics effort for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. The company completed Y Combinator in 2010 and subsequently launched its A/B testing platform for improving webpage conversion.
Its core product is Web Experimentation, which enables non-technical staff to conduct A/B testing on the company's website using Optimizely's visual editor. Meantime, Optimizely's Full Stack product enables developers to experiment deeper into the tech stack to test things like search ranking algorithms or mobile app functionality.
The company said its latest funding round illustrates how experimentation is becoming a core pillar of corporate growth strategies. According to Optimizely, more than a quarter of the Fortune 100 use its experimentation and personalization platform, which handles over 6 billion events a day. The category has attracted customers from a range of industries, including Gap, Visa, StubHub, as well as digital players like Metromile, Lending Club, and Sonos.
"We're thrilled to have the backing of one of the most revered investment banks in the world. This a clear indication of expected market growth and opportunity for digital experience optimization," said Jay Larson, CEO at Optimizely. "Companies that understand the increasing need to deliver better experiences to their customers invest in experimentation and build it into their company culture. We are looking forward to partnering more closely with Accenture as we uncover more global brands that need our help to survive and outperform in this digital economy."