Korea’s Naver Corp invests $5m in NY-based AI startup Dynamic Yield

NAVER Library: An open library with magazines, encyclopedias, design and IT related books. Photo from Naver's website.

By Mars W. Mosqueda Jr.

November 5, 2018

Naver Corporation, one of South Korea’s largest Internet companies, has invested $5 million in New York-based Dynamic Yield, an AI-powered omnichannel personalisation engine, which concluded its Series D round at $38 million.

Proceeds of the latest funding round, which was also joined by Viola Growth, Union Tech Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners, will be used to expand Dynamic Yield beyond the web, app, and email to the physical world, the company said.

Founded in 2011, Dynamic Yield said its unique personalisation technology has been powering individualized experiences for more than 600 million users each month across its 200+ brands. Among its users are IKEA, URBN Brands, Ocado, and Stitch Fix.

The company’s “advanced customer segmentation engine” uses machine learning to build actionable customer segments in real time, enabling marketers to take instant action via personalization, recommendations, automatic optimization, and real-time messaging – in a single platform.

The latest investment will help to accelerate product innovation in the form of a comprehensive set of personalisation APIs, it added.

Dynamic Yield has raised a total of $83.3 million in six funding rounds. It closed its Series C round in July last year, with 12 investors pooling in a total of $31 million. The company first raised an undisclosed amount in funding in November 2011.

CEO and co-founder Liad Agmon said, product and engineering teams around the world are now building products in tandem with marketing to personalise every interaction with customers.

“This doesn’t end online, and teams will need the flexibility of Dynamic Yield’s server-side APIs and SDKs to effectively inject custom-made experiences at every single digital channel and customer touchpoint,” Agmon said.

Commenting on its investment, Naver said, Dynamic Yield’s global presence, and specifically its Asia Pacific growth, “have been very intriguing and we are glad to now be a part of their journey”.

Naver Corporation is an Internet content service company headquartered in Seongnam, South Korea that operates the Korean search engine Naver. It has also launched various global services such as LINE, Webtoon, and SNOW. The company established itself as an early pioneer in the use of user-generated content through the creation of the online Q&A platform Knowledge iN.

Also Read:

Naver-owned LINE Corporation’s games business snags $110m

Foursquare raises $33m Series F led by Simon Ventures, Naver Corp

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In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

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  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
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