Stellar Loyalty, the first applications provider to deliver breakthrough cloud-based, big data customer loyalty solutions, today launched the company and announced completion of a $5 million Series A funding round. Led by InterWest Partners, the financing round will be used to fast-track Stellar Loyalty's go-to-market strategy.
'The customer loyalty market is at a tipping point with consumers demanding personalized engagement,' said Bruce Cleveland, general partner at InterWest Partners. 'Brands are eager to reach consumers with the right offer at the moment of value, but lack an integrated solution combining big data with analytics to drive intelligent offers. Stellar Loyalty has the vision, talent and opportunity to disrupt and redefine customer loyalty in the 21st century and represents a solid investment for InterWest.'
Stellar Loyalty was co-founded earlier this year by Kevin Nix and Peter Lim, pioneers in CRM, mobility and cloud computing. Attracting a talented and experienced team in Silicon Valley and the Philippines, Stellar Loyalty is poised to be the first and only applications provider to deliver a modern, integrated customer loyalty solution architected for consumer big data running in the cloud. Created for marketers and members, the Stellar Loyalty solution offers a mobile-first design, invigorating the way brands engage with consumers -- consistently and personally -- across digital, physical and human interactions.
'Stellar Loyalty is a culmination of Peter and my experiences. From Siebel, Oracle and SAP to our first company together, SkyData, we believe we have the right expertise, team and timing to redefine the customer loyalty experience,' said Kevin Nix, president and CEO of Stellar Loyalty. 'As a consumer and an active member in many loyalty programs, it's shocking to me how rare it is to receive a personalized offer from a meaningful program. We have a unique advantage and perspective, and we can absolutely help CMOs by delivering a breakthrough cloud-based, big data customer loyalty solution designed from the ground up as a system of engagement.'
According to Beagle Research Group's Founder and Managing Principal Denis Pombriant, 'There is a new paradigm underway in which marketers will recognize they need to understand and participate in each customer's moments of truth in their journey with the brand. This requires a fundamental shift from a transaction-oriented approach to a customer process orientation. Stellar Loyalty will enable brands to make this shift through a big data and analytics approach that will help marketers win the ultimate prize -- customer loyalty and advocacy.'
Frictionless Experiences & Instant Gratification
In a recent McKinsey report entitled 'Digitizing the Consumer Decision Journey,' the authors outline the imperative of designing and orchestrating frictionless experiences in a world where physical and virtual environments are rapidly converging, and the consumer decision journey has been impacted by the ubiquity of big data. Stellar Loyalty's approach aligns perfectly with their recommendations:
Apply advanced analytics to the large amount of structured and unstructured data to gain a 360-degree view of your customer
Base engagement strategies on the analysis of customers' recent behaviors and past experiences, as well as the signals from their mobile and social media data
Craft compelling experiences in which all interactions are 'expressly tailored' to a customer's decision journey stage
Deliver 'always on' marketing programs engaging with customers in exactly the right way at any point along the customer decision journey
'In the last decade, the Internet was about communicating between people and exchanging data between web sites. Now it is all about real-time, personalized experiences and mastery over big data,' said Peter Lim, CTO at Stellar Loyalty. 'Marketers must have the tools at their disposal to deliver the real-time, personalized experiences customers want and expect. We are very excited to leverage the technology advances and contributions in Apache Hadoop and Amazon Web Services to deliver our next-generation customer loyalty solution to market faster, better and at a fraction of today's costs.'
ABOUT STELLAR LOYALTY
Stellar Loyalty Inc. is the first applications provider to deliver breakthrough cloud-based, big data customer loyalty solutions. The company's mission is to bring delight and value to every consumer experience by enabling brands to instantly recognize, engage and reward their loyal customers across the network of digital, physical and human interactions. Founded in 2014 and funded by InterWest Partners, Stellar Loyalty is privately held with offices in Foster City, CA and Manila, Philippines. For more details please visit www.stellarloyalty.com or follow Stellar Loyalty on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter @StellarLoyalty