Primus Capital has made a growth investment in Certona, a provider of software that provides for the profiling of digital retail shoppers. The new capital will be used to grow market share, accelerate product development and expand services and support for existing and new clients.
Certona pioneered the use of machine learning and predictive algorithms to provide real-time profiling of digital retail shoppers. Within 3-4 clicks on a site, Certona’s products enable retailers to predict the next best action for the shopper in order to improve customer engagement, conversions, average order value (AOV) and – most importantly – total sales. Certona’s products are used on over 500 top e-commerce websites in more than 70 countries. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in San Diego (www.certona.com).
“As digital commerce takes a larger share of the overall retail market, Certona continues to set the pace by providing robust, best-of-breed personalization solutions to an impressive retail client base,” said Ron Hess, Director of Primus. “We are excited about Certona’s growth prospects and impressed with the company’s solid business fundamentals and strong leadership team.”
Primus invests from $15 million to $70 million in companies within the healthcare, software, and technology-enabled services sectors. Transaction types include management-led buyouts, control and non-control recapitalizations and growth equity investments. The firm was founded in 1983 and is investing through Primus Capital Fund VII, a $353 million fund closed in 2013. Primus is based in Cleveland (www.primuscapital.com).
“We look forward to working with Primus as our strategic partner to bring capital and market perspective to help Certona with this exciting growth stage,” said Meyar Sheik, CEO and co-founder of Certona. “Primus’ track record of success with SaaS companies will be extremely valuable in further scaling the business over time.”
“The digital commerce industry is experiencing rapid growth due to ever-increasing consumer demand,” said Geoffrey Hueter, PhD, CTO and co-founder of Certona. “This funding will enable us to fuel strategic initiatives around new market opportunities, product innovations and support offerings.”
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