Customer experience technology producer SugarCRM bought US-based customer relationship management software developer Node on Monday for an undisclosed amount, enabling corporates Recruit Holdings, MS&AD Insurance, Gree and JetBlue to exit.
Node has created a software platform that applies artificial intelligence to customer relationship management (CRM) data to help clients predict outcomes in use-cases such as sales, marketing, customer engagement and event management.
SugarCRM plans to exploit Node’s assets to add forecasting to its customer experience offering. Node had raised more than $37m since it was founded in 2014.
The company emerged from stealth in 2017 having already raised $16.3m, including $10.8m in a series A round led by venture capital firm Avalon Ventures and backed by digital media company Gree, Industry Ventures, Canaan Partners, Crosslink Ventures, Mark Cuban and Michael Stark.
Recruit Strategic Partners, the investment arm of human resources firm Recruit, backed a $5m round for Node in 2018 alongside media holding company WndrCo, Aragon Capital, Gingerbread Capital, Falmouth Ventures and Open Field Capital.
Node most recently secured $16m in July 2019 from investors including JetBlue Technology Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of airline operator JetBlue, as well as insurer MS&AD and Wharton Alumni Fund, an affiliate of Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania.
Avalon Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, NewView Capital, GingerBread Capital, Canaan Partners, Plum Alley and Dreamers Fund filled out the round alongside Mark Cuban, James Whittaker and undisclosed additional investors.