US-based customer data aggregation software provider Drawbridge was acquired by professional social network LinkedIn for an undisclosed amount on Tuesday, enabling diversified conglomerate Mitsui to exit.
Founded in 2011, Drawbridge offers a software platform that lets clients organise customer data from a variety of sources in order to create comprehensive profiles for each of their customers.
The platform exploits artificial intelligence and machine learning technology and is intended to help sales and marketing professionals target leads across a number of channels more effectively.
LinkedIn will integrate Drawbridge’s talent and technology in order to enhance the performance of its Marketing Solutions service, which helps users contact potential clients and measure the performance of their customer acquisition campaigns.
Drawbridge had reportedly raised $70m in funding altogether, including an investment of undisclosed size from Mitsui in July 2017 that was made as part of a strategic pact granting Mitsui distribution rights to the product in Japan.
The company subsequently secured $15m in an August 2018 round backed by venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Sequoia Capital and Northgate Capital, the same trio that provided $25m in series C funding for Drawbridge in 2016.
Drawbridge had received $6.5m of series A funding from KPCB and Sequoia in 2012, and they both returned for a $14m series B round led by Northgate Capital in 2013.