Performance marketing company HookLogic raises $15.5M

HookLogic partners with retailers to give brands access to closed loop sales data

Given how much information we give out about ourselves these days, there's so much data, more than ever before, about how marketing efforts affect sales. Yet, most brands have historically lacked access to closed loop sales data, so they never knew how their advertising was performing in driving those sales. The data was there, but they didn't have a way to get it.

That is where HookLogic comes in. The company partners with retailers and online travel agencies to accelerate sales for product brands and hotels in order to give them access to in-market shoppers and attributed sales. 

The company announced a new round of funding on Thursday, a a $15.5 million Series C growth round. The funding came from new investors Fung Capital and Mousse Partners, in addition to participation from existing investors Bain Capital Ventures and Intel Capital.  

HookLogic had previously raised two round, a Series A round of $9.5 million in 2011, and a Series B round of $14 million in 2013. This latest funding gives it a total of $39 in total funding.

Founded in 2004, HookLogic provides a Retail Search Exchange, which gives brands premium placement across a network of e-commerce sites, as well as a Travel Search Engine, which powers sponsored listings programs on the world’s leading online travel agencies.

The company accelerates sales for its advertisers/brands, and its serves as a monetization solution for publishers and commerce sites. 

"Both translate to real increases in revenue – for brands, its through sales, for commerce sites, it’s through media revenue. We operate a competitive auction, advertiser ROI is driven by the efficient frontier of spend where brands can economically drives sales," Jonathan Opdyke, CEO and Co-Founder of HookLogic, told me in an interview.

"There are very few companies similar to HookLogic. Only a couple of platforms like Amazon and Alibaba have similar ad products. Like those platforms, we have access to actual transactional data from many of the biggest commerce sites on the Internet. We’re also giving brands more control over e-commerce sales than they’ve ever had before, which is extremely powerful."

HookLogic’s platform has been growning fast. It now spans more than 160 of the world’s largest ecommerce sites in 69 countries, with access to more than $90 billion in ecommerce sales for brand sales attribution. In the U.S., HookLogic‘s retail network reaches more unique shoppers than Amazon.com, with web traffic expected to surpass Amazon in the fourth quarter of this year.

Network partners and advertisers that use HookLogic include Walmart, Target, Expedia, Priceline, Toys R Us, Macy's, Staples, Kohl's, Hotels.com, Priceline, Travelocity, Hotwire, Hasbro, Intel, L’Oreal and Microsoft.

The company will use the funding for international expansion and investment in technology, which also includes "aggressive hiring plans in the US and internationally" to expand its 135 person team.

"HookLogic already works in the UK with retail sites such as Asda, Argos and Boots," said Opdyke. "The funding will help us further expand our international business presence."

Along with the new funding, HookLogic also announced the sale of its AutoHook division, in which it marketed its product to auto dealerships, to Urban Science, a global provider of analytical solutions that helps automotive OEMs and their dealers improve sales and customer loyalty. HookLogic’s financial advisor on the sale of the AutoHook division was the Presidio Group.

"Since the very beginning in 2004, we have always been laser focused on the shopper and measuring sales attribution. The largest digital advertisers have been those in retail, travel, finance and telco who can elicit a direct response, measure results quickly and reinvest in strategies that work," Opdyke told me.

"It’s how Google was built. By bringing performance marketing to brands, we believe we can drive more brand spend in the digital ecosystem and fundamentally disrupt how products are marketed."

This is just the beginning for HookLogic, which has " a great dela of innovation, new publisher launches and product news coming out over the next 2 months, so stay tuned."

(Image source: hooklogic.com)