Every retailer was required to establish its online presence quickly during the pandemic, particularly when we were locked down. Personalizing the shopping experience is becoming more important as people shop online in greater numbers. Bluecore, an ecommerce personalization platform, saw the pandemic as a turning point and announced today a $125m Series E at a valuation of $1 billion.Georgian, an existing investor, led the round. Norwest and FirstMark were also present investors. Silver Lake Waterman was a new investor. According to the company, today's investment brings the total amount raised to $225 millions.Fayez Mohamood, Bluecore CEO, and co-founder, stated that retail outreach used to be about driving traffic to physical stores or the company website. However, online business has changed the way brands interact with customers.Bluecore believes in this shift. Bluecore is a multichannel, retail-specific personalization platform that combines three types of data. The first is customer identification. The second is shopper behaviour. Mohamood said that third and most important is the product catalogue of a retailer. This allows us to create personalized experiences across different channels.This company was established in 2013 and has managed to significantly evolve the concept of personalization. Mohamood claims that the pandemic pushed the company into the digital world, which is where their strength lies. That's why they are seeking this funding.While personalization is an important aspect of any business, I believe the impact digital has had on how much revenue everyone makes has made it more valuable. He said that this has become even more important over the past year.The company's growth has been accompanied by an increase in the number of employees. Bluecore was 236 employees in May 2020. Today, it has more than 300 employees and is on track to have over 400 by the end. He believes that diversity and inclusion are key components to ensuring that the employees reflect the diverse customer base as they grow the company.It all starts with the executive staff. I am proud that close to half of our executive team are women. The core employees are represented on a committee called the diversity, equity, and inclusion committee. This committee has thoughts, ideas, and, most importantly, actions to help us build a more diverse and inclusive workplace. He said that this translated into OKRs.Mohamood, a Series E company valued at a billion dollars, can see himself becoming a public company in the future. However, he is more focused on growth than profitability. We see it as having this brand that will help us invest in product capabilities, leadership capabilities, and go-to market capabilities to build something that can [become a public company] one day. He said that although we are committed to growth, it is important that we keep our business private if that is the goal. The runway of $125 million gives the company plenty of time to take its own time.
