Signal raises $30M in funding to boost marketing tech

Signal, a Chicago-based marketing technology company, has closed a $30 million Series E round of funding to expand its product in global markets and hire tech workers.

More than 20,000 companies and brands use Signal’s platform, including Crate & Barrel, Macy’s and Starwood Hotels and Resorts.
Six-year-old Signal runs a platform that patches together data from different sources to help its clients recognize and track individual customers. That information could come from someone’s interactions with a brand via email, over the web or a through a purchase in a brick-and-mortar store.

That helps give brands a comprehensive look at a particular customer across mediums and better sell to them, CEO and co-founder Mike Sands ⇒ said.

“It’s not enough these days to know what (customers are) looking at, and then making a recommendation,” Sands said. “A brand wants to take all of their historical data about you — what you’ve purchased in the past, how loyal you are, what your average spend is — and they want to use that information to influence how they’re marketing and personalizing the communications to you so it’s more relevant.”

The company says the funding will fuel global growth: Signal plans to open offices or add to teams in other markets where the company already has a presence, including Australia and the U.K. It also plans to enter new countries in the Asia Pacific and Europe regions in the next two years.

Signal also plans to use the money to add staff, primarily in tech jobs, Sands said. The company employs more than 150 now, with plans to near 200 by the end of the year. Signal is headquartered at 111 N. Canal in the West Loop, also home to the Chicago offices of Twitter, Uber and Fieldglass.

The funding round was led by I2A, a Chicago-based venture fund. Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Baird Capital, Epic Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank also invested. The round closed on May 27, the company said.