Civis Analytics Raises $30.7 Million in Series B Funding

Investment fuels data science product innovation and global expansion as company reports record growth and first annual profit

Civis Analytics, a technology company that powers effective, data-driven audience campaigns, today announced a $30.7 million Series B round of financing, with participation from Alumni Ventures and existing investors Drive Capital, Verizon Ventures, Eric Schmidt (former Executive Chairman & CEO of Alphabet and co-founder of Schmidt Futures), and Silicon Valley Bank, among others.

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Civis’s founders built the core data science and technology behind the first data-driven Presidential campaign in 2012, informing every part of the campaign’s messaging and billion-dollar advertising program. They created Civis in 2013 to help organizations scale their own targeted audience decision-making in-house. Today, Civis offers a unified platform for data teams and executives to collaboratively, efficiently, and effectively find, reach, and engage the people they care about most.

The Series B funding comes on the heels of Civis’s best year ever, as the company reported over 60% revenue growth and its first full-year profit in 2020. The company’s success has continued into 2021, with record revenue for the 12 months ending June 30. In addition:

• Brands, nonprofits, and governments conducted more than 3,000 message tests on the Civis Platform to find their most persuasive messages using a controlled experiment, widely considered the gold standard in social science.
• Civis quadrupled its government data science business in three years, deploying the Civis Platform to the four largest cities in the U.S. Civis’s work in this space was honored by Fast Company, Government Technology, and Engaging Local Government Leaders Network (ELGL). The Civis Platform is currently FedRAMPin-process — the latest investment in Civis’s robust security and data protection programs.
• Civis reaffirmed its commitment to using data science for good, enabling organizations like the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the Sierra Club, Houston Food Bank, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to make important decisions around donor and constituent engagement. This includes providing core messaging intelligence and technology for COVID-19 vaccine outreach programs.

Quotes about the news and testimonials from partners:

• “Every CMO building a serious digital operation should hire Civis,” said Eric Schmidt. “They have built a truly innovative and powerful platform for data and marketing teams. I’m proud to reinvest in Civis to expand their reach to companies and causes worldwide.”
• “Civis’s technology is helping us efficiently acquire discovery+ subscribers as we continue to scale and makes our media planning function more advanced,” said Seth Goren, Group SVP of Global Subscriber Acquisition at Discovery Inc. “Our analysts can quickly and easily pull data-driven answers to questions around optimization, trade-offs, and scenario-planning.”
• “We were drawn to Civis for a number of reasons,” said Erik Hammer, partner at Alumni Ventures. “They continue to add great talent to the team, they’re bringing tangible value to an impressive roster of clients, and governments at all levels are accelerating investment in analytics. The fact that they grew profitably across sectors through the pandemic is a testament to the strength of their business.”
• “Organizations know they need to be more data-driven, but don’t always know where to start,” said Chris Olsen, Partner at Drive Capital and member of the Civis Board of Directors. “The fact that Civis meets them where they are in terms of analytical maturity means they have a massive addressable market. We’re excited to see their continued growth.”

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Civis will use the new investment to accelerate product innovation and continue growing its team, starting with several key executive appointments:

• Marta DeBellis, CMO of HireVue, joins the Civis Board of Directors;
• Clare Epstein, Vice President of Public Sector;
• Maeve Ward, Vice President of Research;
• Richard Watson, Vice President of Media;
• Aaron Williams, Vice President of Marketing;
• Laura Belmont, General Counsel; and
• Patrice Brown, Chief of Staff.

“Civis delivers cloud-based solutions to help organizations use data to inform their most important decisions and audience campaigns,” said Dan Wagner, CEO and Founder of Civis Analytics. “Over the past year, we’ve partnered with CMOs and their analytics teams to create more effective messages based on science, find new customers for breakout streaming platforms, and map the effects of their advertising across channels using leading-edge data science for their exact needs.”

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