Michel Fester, Usermind CEO. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota)
Experience management software giant Qualtrics has acquired Usermind, a Seattle-based marketing startup that helps companies attract, retain, and serve customers.
Usermind was founded in 2013 and is a leader in the “Journey Orchestration” market, which includes companies that support customers in the analysis of customer relationships and enable relevant personalized communication.
Qualtrics is somewhat similar. Companies use their platform to collect data on how customers, employees and others experience their products and services and take action based on the results.
Qualtrics went public in January and raised $ 1.55 billion, more than two years after acquiring $ 8 billion in SAP. It will use Usermind to improve its Qualtrics XM Directory, which helps track customer interactions.
Usermind has around 40 employees, according to LinkedIn.
“We founded Usermind because we believe companies should know exactly where customers are on their journey, know when things are going wrong, and be able to proactively guide customers to the best possible experience,” said Michel Feaster , CEO of Usermind, in a blog post.
Qualtrics is headquartered in Seattle, where it employs approximately 800 of its 3,300 people and had sales of $ 763 million in 2020.
Feaster noted that “we believe that building legendary software companies outside of Silicon Valley is essential to more widely distributing economic opportunities in the US.”
The deal announced on Tuesday marks the latest chapter in a roller coaster ride for Usermind in recent years. The company laid off 15 employees (25% of its workforce) in March at the start of the pandemic last year. But then demand rose as companies accelerated their digital adoption. Usermind raised a $ 14 million round in January to support its growth.
“Monitoring customer satisfaction at every moment and on every channel has grown from a best practice to a mission-critical function when companies innovated digitally to survive,” said Feaster.
The deal is also part of a hot market for IPOs, venture capital and acquisitions across the tech industry and in Seattle.
Usermind had raised a total of $ 60 million from investors such as WestRiver Group, Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures, Charles River Ventures, and others.
Feaster founded the startup eight years ago together with Przemek Pardyak, who left the company in 2016 and is now with Google. Feaster previously worked at Apptio and HP Software.