ATLANTA (June 14, 2016) — MessageGears has secured $2.35 million in Series A funding to accelerate development of its enterprise marketing platform and ramp-up hiring – the company plans to double its headcount this year. The round was led by Covalent Interests with participation from Hallett Capital and Cloud Sherpas’ co-founders Eran Gil and Michael Cohn, who is now managing director of Techstars Atlanta. Jon Hallett of Hallett Capital has joined the MessageGears Board of Directors.
Thousands of marketers in large B2C companies including Expedia, Musictoday, and Runkeeper use MessageGears to send over one billion messages every month – an increase of 400+% from last year. MessageGears differentiates itself through a unique product architecture that combines on-premises marketing software with SaaS message delivery. This hybrid approach – which only MessageGears offers – enables the best of both worlds: easy data integration, perpetual data synchronization and enterprise-grade data security, to go with zero-maintenance of message delivery systems.
MessageGears is investing in the expansion of its platform at a time when enterprise marketers want an integrated solution that personalizes customer communications across channels (email, mobile, text, social and web). But enterprise marketers are also concerned with issues like data security and data centralization – both of which are weak points for pure-play SaaS email marketing providers. A survey from The Relevancy Group highlighted data centralization as a top priority for marketers in 2016.
“Enterprise marketers, chastened by data breaches and desperate for a system that makes list-building and segmentation easy, are moving toward hybrid systems that were purpose-built to protect their customers and simplify their jobs,” says Dan Roy, CEO of MessageGears. “Our focus has always been on providing a platform that enables easier and smarter marketing, and protecting the interests of our customers through an innovative product architecture. We’re excited that our product is so well aligned to the requirements of modern enterprise marketers, and we look forward to delivering innovative multi-channel messaging capabilities to meet their needs.”
“MessageGears has grown by leaps and bounds in a very short time, underscoring the uniqueness of its product, significant market demand, and the focus and commitment of MessageGears’ senior management team,” says Hallett. “I’m excited to join the Board of Directors, and to support a company that is improving the way marketers engage their customers.”