RichRelevance Raises Another $8 Million To Bring Personalized Shopping To E-Commerce Sites

In May, we reported that e-commerce recommendations provider RichRelevance had raised $20 million in new funding led by Crosslink Capital, with Greylock Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Tugboat Ventures participating. The company has added an additional $8 million to close out the oversubscribed round, with new funding coming from RTP Ventures, Shea Ventures, and Gray Ventures, and with existing investor Tugboat Ventures participating.

RichRelevance provides technology that allows e-commerce sites to track user behavior and provide more personalized shopping experiences and better recommendations to their customers. The company was founded by the architects of Amazon.com’s recommendation technology, and are making similar options available to other retailers. With product recommendations, targeted promotions, and advertising, retailers can better monetize their websites.

Founder and CEO David Selinger tells me that the raise was partly done to bring RTP Ventures Senior Managing Director Kirill Sheynkman on board as an advisor. Sheynkman was founder of Stanford Technology Group, which was acquired by Informix in 1995 and Plumtree Software, which was acquired BEA Systems. Other investors came on board at the suggestion of Crosslink Capital, Selinger said.

The funding will be used to support its growing headcount, allowing it to better support major clients like Walmart and Target. RichRelevance will also look to make acquisitions when they make sense: Last December the company acquired Searchandise Commerce, and earlier in the year it took over operations for CNET’s Intelligent Cross-Sell technology.

The new funding comes as RichRelevance is expanding quickly. Selinger said that the company’s revenues doubled from 2010 to 2011, and are expected to double again this year. The company was also close to profitability before taking on the new money. Its headcount is now at more than 130 employees, and it recently expanded offices in San Francisco, New York City, and Seattle, while opening new offices in London and Boston recently.

In North America, RichRelevance clients include major retailers like Walmart, Sears, Target, Office Depot, and Overstock.com. It also has a growing business in Europe, with customers like Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Dixons, and Ann Summers. Together, it delivers more than 850 million product recommendations daily, or one recommendation every 21 milliseconds.