Enterprise profile manager Reputation.com raises $30m

21 Aug 2019

Image: © Oleksii/Stock.adobe.com

Reputation.com’s platform helps enterprises to gather and analyse feedback from a range of channels, providing insights to improve customer experience.

Yesterday (20 August), Reputation.com announced that it raised $30m in equity financing. The company, which runs a cloud-based enterprise reputation and customer experience management platform, said the round was led by Ascension Ventures.

Originally set up in 2006 as a platform to manage individuals’ online reputations, the company launched with the name ReputationDefender. It was founded by then-CEO Michael Fertik, who has since stepped down from the position. In recent years, the company has renamed itself and has pivoted towards enterprise clients.

This was Reputation.com’s second funding round since the pivot and saw previous investors return, such as Kleiner Perkins, August Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Heritage Group and Icon Ventures.

The round also saw new investors support Reputation.com, including Akkadian Ventures, Industry Ventures and River City Ventures.

The company’s enterprise reputation management platform is now used by three of the top five automotive OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and more than 10,000 auto dealerships in the US, with a growing base in Europe.

It is also used by more than 250 healthcare systems and over 100 leading property management firms. In recent years, the company has gained traction in other industries, including financial services, hospitality and retail services.

Reputation.com is involved in strategic alliances with brands such as Google, Facebook, JD Power and Amazon, among others.

Feedback economy

Joe Fuca, CEO of Reputation.com, said: “In today’s feedback economy, we’re seeing growing demand among brands in every industry for innovative ways to manage and take action on ‘data in the wild’ – the unstructured customer sentiment data that lives outside of NPS [net promoter score] surveys.

“Brands can’t rely on private surveys anymore, as more than 70pc of consumers use information from reviews and social media to make purchasing decisions.

“As the leader in the ORM space, Reputation.com delivers the only platform that can gather and analyse feedback from all channels – structured and unstructured – collectively, providing actionable insights that lead to impactful [customer experience] improvements.”

Fuca also said that this funding round has tripled the company’s valuation, but did not provide an exact figure. TechCrunch estimates that the business is now worth between $360m and $390m.

John Kuelper, managing director at Ascension Ventures, added: “Ascension Ventures is excited to deepen its partnership with Reputation.com as it enters its next critical stage of growth.

“We’ve watched Reputation.com’s industry-leading reputation management offering grow into an even more expansive CX platform. We’re seeing some of the world’s largest brands and service providers achieve terrific results.”

Kelly Earley was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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