Dec 19, 2018
BOSTON and Nantes, France, December 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Akeneo, a leading provider of Product Information Management (PIM) solutions for corporate brands and retailers, today announced that it has generated a triple-digit year-over-year growth rate for the last six consecutive years. In 2018, Akeneo signed on a slew of global clients, including Fossil, Sunbelt Rentals and Rural King, demonstrating the increasingly strategic role of product experience management (PXM) in the commerce stack.
As Akeneo continues its rapid expansion across Europe and North America, it recently secured a strategic investment from Salesforce Ventures and investor Stephan Dietrich, who will also join the company as an independent board member. Dietrich is a serial entrepreneur and global leader with 25 years of management, sales, and marketing experience with SaaS businesses. His last brainchild Neolane, a conversational marketing company was acquired by Adobe Systems for $600 million in 2013.
It’s remarkable to see Akeneo’s rapid growth and industry recognition over the years. As brands and retailers grapple with an ever-exploding number of customer touchpoints and channels, I believe Akeneo is well positioned to seize this market opportunity and I’m glad to be helping them expand their global footprint.
Akeneo’s open source PIM platform provides corporate brands and omnichannel retailers with a comprehensive solution to manage product information and online catalogs. In the era of experience driven commerce, many merchants rely on the power of product information to deliver compelling, consistent, and personalized customer experiences across sales channels.
Akeneo’s PIM capabilities have been helping Salesforce Commerce Cloud customers improve their time-to-market and customer experience, using a certified cartridge available on the Commerce Cloud Partner Marketplace. This new investment will allow Akeneo to create deeper integrations customized for Salesforce users; a new cartridge update will be released in the coming weeks to provide a further boost to catalog manager productivity and facilitate product experience management.
We are excited to support Akeneo’s innovative PIM platform as they leverage Salesforce Commerce Cloud to deliver enhanced benefits to our joint customers.
Akeneo PIM has evolved from a tactical tool into a full-featured strategic business application that enables customized and personalized product experiences. With our investors’ strong support and technology expertise, we look forward to further optimizing our product offering and pioneering the use of machine learning to help both B2B and B2C merchants thrive in today’s omnichannel commerce world.
Akeneo will use the new funding for continued AI research and development, and to hire new employees to expand the company’s footprint in North America.
Salesforce, Salesforce Ventures and others are among the trademarks of salesforce.com, Inc.
Akeneo is the product experience (PX) company and global leader in Product Information Management (PIM), enabling organizations to build and deliver world-class product experiences across every customer touchpoint through a comprehensive PX Strategy. By providing best-of-breed technology and expertise, Akeneo’s intelligent Product Cloud accelerates growth, reduces time-to-market, and gives organizations the competitive edge needed to convert browsers into buyers.
Leading global brands, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, including Chico’s, The Very Group, TaylorMade Golf, Rail Europe, Kering, and more trust Akeneo to scale and customize their omnichannel commerce initiatives. Using Akeneo’s AI-Centric Product Cloud, companies can activate product experiences in any and all channels that drive an improved customer journey from discovery to purchase, resulting in increased sales, reduced returns, faster time-to-market, and increased team productivity.
Salesforce is the fastest growing top five enterprise software company and the #1 CRM provider globally. Salesforce Ventures—the company’s corporate investment group—invests in the next generation of enterprise technology that extends the power of the Salesforce Customer Success Platform, helping companies connect with their customers in entirely new ways. Portfolio companies receive funding as well as access to the world’s largest cloud ecosystem and the guidance of Salesforce’s innovators and executives. With Salesforce Ventures, portfolio companies can also leverage Salesforce’s expertise in corporate philanthropy by joining Pledge 1% to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce Ventures has invested in more than 280 enterprise cloud startups in 18 different countries since 2009.
David Wamsley
Rosebud Communications
+1-415-259-9104
For more information, please visit salesforce.com/ventures
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