US-based marketing technology provider CM Group has acquired Sailthru, a US-based digital marketing software creator that had raised funding from internet company AOL’s now defunct AOL Ventures unit, for an undisclosed amount.
Founded in 2008, Sailthru operates a digital marketing platform that exploits artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to help clients hone their message across email, web and mobile distribution channels.
The platform can automate the sending out of marketing mailshots and predict how consumers are likely to engage with the client’s brand.
CM Group will retain Sailthru’s product range and development schedule following the acquisition, which was closed in December 2018, and which complements its purchase of email personalisation software developer Liveclicker five months earlier.
Sailthru had raised approximately $48.5m in funding, including $20m in a 2013 series C round featuring AOL Ventures, which later transferred its stake to Bowery Capital, the venture capital firm set up by AOL Ventures co-founder Mike Brown Jr the same year.
AOL was subsequently acquired by telecommunications firm Verizon in 2015. The series C was led by Scale Venture Partners and also featured Benchmark, RRE Ventures, Occam Partners and DFJ Gotham, which is now known as Gotham Ventures.