Lotame, known for its data management platform (DMP), has received a $15 million injection in Series D funding, led by Sozo Ventures and TrueBridge Capital Partners. This brings Lotame’s total funds raised to $44 million.
These new funds, said CEO Andy Monfried, will be used to enhance the platform’s technology and expand globally, particularly in Asia.
“Some of the goals I have in mind are enhanced visualization of data,” Monfried said of the former, noting that many clients now want custom dashboards to display their personal KPIs. “Better attribution, cross-device technology, delivery of audience, ongoing optimization and machine learning.”
Cross-device capabilities in particular have been an area of interest for Lotame; the company last week was in the running to acquire cross-device targeting startup AdMobius.
“We think they’re a great company and a great group of guys with a bright future, but I’m not in a position to comment on that,” Monfried said.
The trends driving Lotame’s technological direction center around the diversity of data now flowing into DMPs. Whereas in the past, most of the information was campaign-level data and web content, now clients are pumping in CRM, point of sale information and other offline assets.
“I had a conversation this morning about…bringing loyalty card data online,” Monfried said. “We’re starting to see new robust sets of data coming online. The DMP [provides] digital visualization.”
He added Lotame intends to expand globally by increasing the languages the DMP supports, particularly around Asia and different character recognitions.
The company’s fresh round of funding comes barely a week after Oracle went public with its intent to acquire data exchange and DMP provider BlueKai. That DMPs have become targets for acquisition (previous high-profile examples include Neustar’s purchase of Aggregate Knowledge and Adobe’s purchase of Demdex) validate the value of the DMP, Monfried said: “[They] show how valuable the DMP has been and can be.”
But he also anticipates Lotame will continue to function as an independent technology company, at least in the near future. “When it comes to data management, independence is our route in the near term,” Monfried said. “I think large companies want to know that someone like Lotame has their best interests in mind, that we’re not compromised in any way shape or form.”
