Influ2, the first Person-Based Advertising (PBA) platform, today announced its Series A funding of $8 million, led by Rally Ventures. Cofounded by Dmitri Lisitski, Chief Executive Officer, and Vladimir Mikhalko, Chief Technology Officer, Influ2 is purpose-built for B2B marketers to amplify their enterprise reach and revenue. The platform serves ads to specific decision-makers via display and social networks and captures their engagement at an individual level. The results returned from these campaigns arm sales teams with tangible person-based insights to help them drive engagement with their target accounts.
Through its PBA solution, Influ2 helps B2B marketers break open the black box of online advertising. And, powered by this technology, this investment enables Influ2 to build an end-to-end Buying Group Marketing (BGM) solution. This solution will give businesses the ability to monitor engagement and sentiment across buying groups to help them provide personalized sales and marketing experiences that reflect where targets are in their purchasing journeys.
"At the heart of ABM is a buying group that ultimately makes the decisions. That's why we developed Influ2. To give B2B marketers the power to reach key decision-makers at their target accounts,” said Dmitri Lisitski, CEO and Cofounder of Influ2. "This investment will help Influ2 extend beyond advertising, allowing marketers to achieve more precision by extending their Buying Group Marketing approach more holistically across their programs."
Rally Ventures, a leading U.S.-based venture capital firm focused on early-stage business technology, led this round of funding, along with a personal investment from Ryan Barretto, President of Sprout Social. While Influ2 will primarily make a heavy investment in product development, this funding will also support its continued U.S. and team expansion.
“I first connected with Influ2 in 2019 and have traced its trajectory since then. Influ2 experienced five times revenue growth in 2020, which was especially impressive given the pandemic. With more than 40 new customers brought on board this year alone, it’s clear that marketers are embracing the platform,” said Charles Beeler, Managing Director at Rally Ventures. “The Influ2 team is doing incredible work, and we’re confident in this growth investment and look forward to supporting the development of this new BGM solution and the next step in their journey.”
“For brands to successfully drive engagement, revenue and a healthy ROI - they need to ensure that their advertising is delivering the right message to the right buyer at the right time,” said Ryan Barretto, President of Sprout Social. “Influ2 has built a product that empowers marketers to do just that, and I’m excited to support their vision and continued innovation."
Influ2’s platform serves multiple unicorn start-up companies, such as Amplitude, Papaya Global and Optimove, and their success is driven by their willingness to embrace innovative new approaches offered by platforms like Influ2.
“Legacy targeting methods weren’t working for us, and before Influ2, we were showing ads to targets that our salespeople weren’t talking to — and this was due to a misalignment between sales and marketing,” said Marcus Akerland, Senior Manager of Performance Marketing at Amplitude. “With Influ2, we were able to see who was engaging with our ads on a person-by-person level, revealing if our campaigns were reaching our intended targets and buying groups. Not only did this information support better sales and marketing alignment, it also helped us to develop more effective campaigns and increase our marketing ROI overall.”
To learn more about Influ2 or to request a demo, visit: influ2.com.
About Influ2
Influ2 is a Person-Based Advertising platform for B2B companies that is purpose-built for B2B marketers who want to amplify their enterprise reach and revenue. It serves ads to specific decision-markers via display and social networks and provides sales with person-based and buying group insights that drive engagement within their target accounts. Where attention is finite, Influ2 helps you get in front of and drive engagement with people that want to engage with you. For more information, visit influ2.com.
