Contxto – Shove off Facebook, Brazilian startup Arena wants to give e-commerce and media businesses back control of their customers’ data to build meaningful experiences.
In order to reach more global markets, Arena recently raised US$2.3 million in seed 2 funding. Redpoint eventures led the round and was joined by the Incubate Fund, Plug and Play, and Intango Ventures.
Through the startup’s customer data platform, businesses gather information about their users. Consequently, this saves marketing departments money and generate more sales leads.
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Arena sets the data stage
Most companies are well-aware of the importance of curating content for each user. Although that entails first gathering the data to understand their profile and interests. Moreover, tech corporations like Google, Facebook, and friends are sitting on hoards of this info and won’t let it go—unless companies pay up.
In that sense, Brazilian Arena wants to change this for media and e-commerce businesses.
“Arena provides a unique pixel to understand customer behavior and preferences based on context,” explained the startup’s CEO and co-Founder, Paulo Martins.
“That first-party data is rapidly processed via an advanced AI engine and fed into our experience personalization system. Then, our customers can deliver highly customized experiences to their mobile and websites, at scale.”
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Martins, alongside Rodrigo Reis, co-founded Arena in 2017 and prior to this round had already raised US$1 million. The startup has also snagged some bigwigs for its customer portfolio. Do FOX Sports, Sony Music, and Microsoft ring a bell?
But it wants to commercially expand, so it will be hiring staff for its sales and marketing team.
Do you even customize?
Why it’s a big deal: Covid-19 has led to an unprecedented moment of prosperity for streaming services and digital media platforms. As they grow, comes the need for them to enhance the process for its users through customization services. And that’s something Arena is well-aware of.
“We’re now experiencing a huge uptick in new deals so far in 2020, despite the current economic crisis, from online companies in a variety of fast-growth sectors such as streaming media, distance learning, virtual events and e-commerce players,” added Martins.
“Nearly every product and marketing team is now focused on delivering more personalized experiences in real-time using their own first-party data without relying on social media or cookies.”
Eat your heart out Facebook.
Related articles: Tech and startups from Brazil!
-ML
