PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Clutch, a leading provider of Consumer Management solutions to customer-focused brands, announced today that it has raised $5.0 million, led by Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE), which closes its Series B round that now totals $13.2 million. This brings Clutch’s total funding to $14.4 million, including $12.3 million from Safeguard through its participation in the company’s Series A and initial Series B financing rounds. Clutch will use the proceeds of this round to accelerate its marketing and sales initiatives to expand into an array of markets including specialty retail, apparel, media, hospitality and pharmaceutical/healthcare.
This latest capital infusion comes on the heels of Clutch’s most successful year to date, highlighted by record sales and revenue, as well as a series of enhancements to its Consumer Management platform now used by more than 750 customers. During the first quarter of 2015, Clutch added several new clients including Crabtree & Evelyn, Meineke and Brooks Running, and also expanded existing programs with clients like Theory, Pandora, and Marbles, all of which are incorporating consumer management intelligence as part of their marketing strategy.
“One of most significant deficiencies consumer businesses have is a fundamental lack of understanding of their customers in terms of who they are and how they interact with the brand. This is largely due to an inability to centralize their fragmented consumer data across disparate sources,” explained Ned Moore, Co-founder and CEO of Clutch. “Clutch’s ability to synthesize a brand’s cross-channel customer data not only delivers a complete view of its Most Valuable Customers, but allows the brand to intelligently engage and motivate its customers on a personal level. This has positioned us to help deliver exceptional customer experiences to many of the world’s leading brands. We are incredibly excited that Safeguard has re-upped its commitment to Clutch to help us achieve our vision.”
“It has been proven that brands that employ successful customer-focused marketing programs typically experience higher revenue and increased profitability, yet most still focus a majority of their marketing efforts on acquiring customers,” said Erik Rasmussen, Managing Director at Safeguard and Board Member at Clutch. "Clutch’s Consumer Management platform enables brands to gain a deep understanding of their customers through data and analytics, in order to provide a rich customer experience that ultimately results in increased revenue. We are excited to be part of the impressive success and growth at Clutch as it continues to pioneer the Consumer Management space."
About Clutch
Clutch empowers consumer-focused businesses to identify, target and engage their Most Valuable Customers (MVCs). The company’s advanced Consumer Management platform integrates traditional point-of-sale (POS) and ecommerce data, along with consumer social and mobile activity to create more meaningful engagements, longer-lasting relationships and most importantly, more successful customers. Headquartered in the Philadelphia area, Clutch supports over 750 retailers globally and more than 46 million consumer accounts. Clutch is a proud partner company of Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE) and Ben Franklin Technology Partners. For more information please visit clutch.com, follow Clutch Holdings on LinkedIn or follow @ClutchSuccess on Twitter.
About Safeguard Scientifics
Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE:SFE) has a distinguished track record of fostering innovation and building market leaders. For six decades, Safeguard has been providing growth capital and operational support to entrepreneurs across an evolving spectrum of industries. Today, Safeguard is focused specifically on two sectors—healthcare and technology. Specifically, Safeguard targets early- and growth-stage companies in advertising technology, digital media, financial technology, enterprise software, Internet of Things, devices, diagnostics, digital health and healthcare IT. For more information, please visit www.safeguard.com or Follow Us on Twitter @safeguard.
