Custora, a marketing software startup based in NYC, announced today the close of a $6.5MM Series A led by Foundation Capital with participation from Greycroft Partners and Valhalla Partners. The new funding will enable Custora to scale out sales and marketing and more rapidly develop the company's B2C marketing software platform. Custora, a Y Combinator company, raised its seed round in 2011 and has been growing based on customer revenue over the past few years.

Custora provides a predictive marketing platform built for e-commerce teams. Its software analyzes data to predict how customers will behave in the future -- the things they're likely to buy, how much they'll spend, even how often they'll shop. These customer-specific insights enable brands to advertise and communicate in more effective and meaningful ways.

'It's a new type of software - part predictive analytics, part B2C marketing automation,' says Corey Pierson, Co-Founder and CEO of Custora. 'The goal is for marketers to spend more time thinking about how to treat their customer segments at different points in the buying cycle, and less time caught up in data analysis and list management.'

Customer data is spread across so many silos that it is a real challenge for marketers to surface meaningful insights about their customer or implement marketing campaigns that leverage those insights to drive more sales. To respond to that issue, Custora has built the first platform that aggregates data from the whole ecosystem, leverages predictive analytics to surface customer insights, then integrates those insights back into existing marketing tools -- making it easier for marketers to utilize those insights in daily campaigns.

For example, Custora monitors in-store and online purchase data along with website and email engagement data and identifies specific customers who seem to be veering off their usual purchase tendencies. Then, the platform integrates with existing email marketing software to automatically trigger the appropriate 'win back' email at the appropriate time.

'Custora has surfaced deep, actionable insights about various customer segments,' says Jason Wang, Senior Director of Strategic Planning and Operations at Guess?, Inc. 'We have a much better grasp of our different shopper types and of our omnichannel customers - and when we're tailoring campaigns based on those insights, it's driving real lift.'

'It doesn't make sense for insights and actions to be disconnected. Dashboards don't drive revenue for marketers,' says Anamitra Banerji, partner at Foundation Capital and newest addition to Custora's board. 'Shoppers are demanding smarter, more relevant marketing campaigns. What makes sense is for software to help marketers bridge this gap.'

Though the company has yet to invest heavily in sales and marketing, they have attracted an impressive roster of customers including Ann Taylor, Guess, Reebok, Bonobos, and more. 'Retailers are finding us by word of mouth because they hear our product simply works. ROI sells,' Pierson says.

About Custora

Custora provides the leading predictive marketing platform for e-commerce teams. It helps retailers acquire valuable customers and improve customer retention. The software analyzes data to predict how customers will behave in future -- the things they're likely to buy, how much they'll spend, even how often they'll shop. The software then integrates with existing marketing tools so marketing teams can leverage customer-specific insights to advertise and communicate in more effective and meaningful ways. Custora is proud to work with a variety of online and omnichannel retailers including LOFT, Guess?, Crocs, Bonobos, and Backcountry. Based in Manhattan, NYC, Custora is a Y Combinator company, and is backed by prominent venture capital firms and angel investors. To learn more, visit http://www.custora.com/

About Foundation Capital

Foundation Capital is dedicated to the proposition that one entrepreneur's idea, with the right support, can become a business that changes the world. Foundation Capital has helped companies like Lending Club change the way money is lent and borrowed and Netflix revolutionize media distribution and consumption, among many others. Foundation Capital is currently invested in more than 60 high-growth ventures in the areas of consumer, information technology, software, semiconductors, and clean technology including Beepi, BoardVantage, Chegg, Coverity, DogVacay, Kik, ForgeRock, Lending Home, Simply Hired, Spoon-Rocket, Sunrun, and Venafi. Foundation Capital's twenty-five IPOs include Lending Club, OnDeck, MobileIron, Control4, TubeMogul, Envestnet, Financial Engines, Netflix, NetZero, Responsys and Silver Spring Networks. For more information, visit foundationcapital.com.