We’ve seen the rise of the customer data platform (CDP) in recent years as a central repository for collecting data about customers to better understand their needs. It’s worth noting that Twilio spent $3.2 billion to buy CDP Segment in 2020 with the goal of building data-fueled apps. Today, Lantern, an early-stage startup, is building on that idea by combining a CDP focused on B2B with a customer success platform consisting of a set of AI-fueled tools to take advantage of that data.
Today, the company announced a $6.8 million seed round, which actually consists of a previously unannounced $1 million chunk from last year with the remainder closing last November.
Company founder David Bromberg says that the idea was to combine a customer data platform aimed at B2B companies with customer success tools with the goal of producing more successful revenue outcomes. He wanted to build something that made it simple to access your data sources, then put that data to work.
“What we’re trying to do is create this new hub that can track time series customer data, and in just one click connect to every single data source your team is using,” Bromberg told TechCrunch.
Customers start by identifying their various data sources, with the company currently offering 50 data connectors. With that data in place in the CDP, Lantern is building a series of tools designed to help you understand customers better and ultimately make more money. One of the first tools helps identify customers that are most likely to be open to upselling, and the newest one helps salespeople find customers who have switched jobs, and then automatically creates leads to target them at their new account.
“What we’re trying to do is unlock this new pipeline channel of your existing customers, whether that’s upselling them or following happy customers to their next job to sell them for a second time.” They are looking at building other tools as well taking advantage of the data in the CDP in order to build a true platform.
The company currently has a dozen employees with plans to hire more engineers and go-to-market people in the coming months. Bromberg says that in terms of building a diverse company, his cap table is already 60% women, which he admits was a happy accident, but he hopes to carry that on as he builds his company.
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“We were looking to find the best people around the table, who are knowledgeable, and they just happened to be women. In terms of our company, we’re taking the same approach. We’re trying to bring the best people around and that also happens to be pretty diverse as well too,” he said.
Today’s $6.8 million seed was led by Primary Ventures and Moxxie Ventures with participation from 8VC, 8-Bit Capital, Coalition and a number of prominent industry angels.
