General Catalyst Partners Leads Equity Investment in NextActionTM
NextAction to rebrand as DataLogixTM - the leading provider of cross-channel marketing data
WESTMINSTER, Colo. -- NextActionTM, the leader in multi-channel marketing, data and analytics, today announced it has closed on a large private equity investment from General Catalyst Partners and entrepreneur Rob Gierkink. The company will be rebranded as DataLogix, maintaining its retail targeting product suite under the NextAction DirectTM label, and its digital ad network and data platform under the Affiniti DigitalTM brand.
"Partnering with Rob and the GC team provides us with the capital and industry expertise to pursue our vision of creating the world's best cross-channel data platform for direct and brand marketers," said Eric Roza, President of DataLogix. "Rob has built and sold three of the largest loyalty companies in the world, and his knowledge of the grocery and CPG space will be a great complement to our expertise in data, predictive analytics and online advertising."
Rob Gierkink has spent more than twenty years working with supermarkets and other retailers as well as companies in the consumer packaged goods industry. He co-founded companies that launched the largest loyalty programs in the United Kingdom (Nectar), Canada (Air Miles) and Holland (Air Miles). Today these programs have over 25 million households actively participating and the underlying companies have created nearly a billion dollars of shareholder value for their investors. Gierkink will continue to serve as Chairman and CEO of DataLogix, and Roza will become its President. George Bell from General Catalyst Partners and Tim Connor from Sequel Venture Partners, NextAction's current lead investor, will join the DataLogix Board.
"Marketers spend over a billion dollars every day in the United States to flood consumers with messages, and yet most messages are delivered based on antiquated targeting techniques resulting in marketing irrelevance," said George Bell, Managing Director of General Catalyst Partners. Bell, the former CEO of Upromise, Excite and Excite@Home, brings extensive experience in digital sales and marketing. "DataLogix has done something that no other company in the United States has been able to do; they have aggregated 8 billion purchase transactions across 110MM households, integrated that with a number of other best-in-breed data sources, and created a delivery platform to enable both offline and online targeting using that data."
"We believe the NextAction Direct database and Affiniti Real-World Data PlatformTM will dramatically improve the relationship between marketers and their consumers by leveraging real-world purchase insight to deliver marketing relevance and effectiveness," said Rob Gierkink. "In addition to the consumer information we have today, we will continue to work hard to bring in other great data sources and thus enhance our effectiveness for multi-channel retailers and brand marketers."
About DataLogixTM
DataLogix, a privately-held company based in Westminster, Colorado, provides data and technology-driven solutions for leading direct marketers and brand advertisers to increase the effectiveness of customer acquisition, retention and branding programs across online and traditional channels. Its product-lines include NextAction DirectTM, the largest database of SKU-Level consumer purchasing behavior, and Affiniti DigitalTM, the leading online ad platform for Real-World DataTM. For more information, please visit: www.datalogix.com.
About General Catalyst Partners
General Catalyst Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building the technology-based companies that will lead innovation and transform industries. Founded in 2000, General Catalyst Partners leverages its principals' extensive operational, business development and technological expertise to provide portfolio companies with a catalyst for success through business-building and partnership development assistance. General Catalyst is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, please visit: www.generalcatalyst.com.
About Sequel Venture Partners
Sequel Venture Partners, based in Boulder, Colorado, provides venture funding for early stage technology businesses. Sequel manages $400 million in capital, and specializes in Healthcare, Internet and Enterprise IT, Clean Technology and Internet based services. For more information please visit: www.sequelvc.com.