Sydney software startup Autopilot just raised a $US12 million round led by Blackbird Ventures

Sydney marketing software startup Autopilot has secured $US12 million in new capital in a deal led by Blackbird Ventures.

The round, which also includes existing investors Rembrandt Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures and Southern Cross Venture Partners, was announced Wednesday along with the company’s new product Insights – a “fitness tracker” for marketers.

“With the launch of Insights and continued support from our investors, we’re helping marketers move beyond batch and blast email to create remarkable multi-channel experiences across the entire customer journey,” said Autopilot co-founder and chief Mike Sharkey.

The latest money brings the total investment into the company to $US32 million, all while big brand customers like Microsoft, Atlassian and Lyft are hopping onto the platform. The company stated it had opened new offices in both San Francisco and Sydney in the past year, while product usage in terms of events processed has surpassed one billion per month.

Autopilot’s platform allows relationship management and engagement tracking in email, online, text message and direct mail marketing campaigns. The system integrates into Salesforce, Twilio, Segment, Slack and Zapier.

Sharkey said that even though marketing has become increasingly sophisticated, companies are still using primitive tools to manage campaigns in the background.

“Good marketing doesn’t feel like marketing at all, yet companies today still view their customers as a name and an email in a spreadsheet,” he said. Read more

Tony Yoo - Business Insider - 7 June 2017