Localytics Raises $5.5M Series B, Launches Analytics-Linked App Marketing Platform

Mobile app analytics firm Localytics is introducing a brand new marketing platform, in what seems like a natural new direction for the company, since it takes the insights they’ve been providing via the data they collect for app developers and provides a way to act directly upon that insight. It makes its analysis instantly actionable by providing a conversion opportunity, for instance, for a customer who’s abandoned their shopping cart, or by delivering a timely message that anticipates a user’s next likely move.

What the new app marketing solution is meant to address is the opportunity an app developer has to talk to consumers when they have their attention – not via push, email or other delayed messaging, but directly, within an app when a user’s actually using it, via in-app messaging. The idea to catch a user’s attention at the moment when they’re on the verge of making a purchase decision, a moment Localytics can identify thanks to its existing tools for app analytics.

Finally, to close the loop, Localytics also analyzes the return and performance of the messages it sends, telling developers what is and isn’t working about their efforts to recapture lost opportunities.

Localytics founder and CEO Raj Aggarwal said in an interview that what this provides is essentially the missing link for developers, especially those who see where their engagement is dropping off but don’t know how to make it turn around, or e-commerce providers who are seeing a lot of abandoned shopping carts at the same point in a customer’s shopping flow.

To help develop and grow this platform, Localytics is also announcing a $5.5 million Series B round of funding today, which will be used to help expand on the marketing platform. That funding in itself is also significant, however, because of its source. The round is led by Polaris Venture Partners, but also includes existing investors New York Angels and Launchpad Venture Group. For those, Localytics now becomes the most sizeable investment in either of their portfolios, a considerable vote of confidence for the new direction.

Localytics still has plenty of competition in this space, including Fiksu, which recently raised $10 million from Qualcomm Ventures. And its model carries the obvious risk of proving annoying to users, rather than a welcome addition, hence driving engagement down instead of up. A lot of that may come down to how individual developers actually employ this tool, but bad experiences will still leave a sour taste in the mouth of both users and app makers, so Localytics will have to try to make sure that its new marketing tool gets used responsibly if it wants it to catch on.