Yotpo raises $230 million to become Israel’s newest unicorn

Tel Aviv-based marketing service Yotpo Inc. announced Thursday that it has raised $230 million in Series F funding only six months after the company completed a $75 million series E in August 2020.

The latest investment round, which was led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Tiger Global, with participation from existing investors Claltech Investment, Coin Ventures, Hanaco, Vertex Ventures, and Vintage Investment Partners, among others, puts Yotpo’s valuation at $1.4 billion. $110 million of the total capital that was raised wen to purchase secondary shares from previous investors, with the remainder invested directly into the company.  Yotpo was founded in 2011 by Omri Cohen and Tomer Tagrin as a platform for creating consumer reviews and visual content. The company employs more than 500 workers in offices in Tel Aviv, Yokneam, New York, London, and Sofia. It serves over 30,000 customers including brands like Patagonia, Revolution Beauty, Brooklinen, Steve Madden, and Princess Polly.

With the latest fundraise, Yotpo plans to double its product and R&D team to accelerate the rollout of its full platform experience, doing the behind-the-scenes work of connecting its products — which to date include Yotpo SMS Marketing, Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals, Yotpo Reviews, and Yotpo Visual UGC. This connected suite of solutions unlocks unified customer data that will allow brands to get more from every campaign and maximize their ROI.

“We have always believed that e-commerce would become the dominant form of shopping, but 2020 was an incredible acceleration. The e-commerce arena is the most important place to be. Everyone is selling everything online now, from entrepreneurs setting up shop in their basement to some of the largest brands in the world. But this also means it’s only going to get more difficult, expensive, and inefficient to market to customers,” said Tomer Tagrin, Yotpo’s founder and CEO. “By integrating our products and consolidating customer data into one e-commerce marketing platform, brands will get to know their customers on a deeper level, give them edgy, VIP experiences every time, and get a higher ROI for their marketing efforts. Thanks to the incredible support of our investors and the passionate effort of the Yotpo team, the full release of our multi-product, synergistic platform is just around the corner.”

In January 2020, Yotpo acquired SMSBump, which added text messaging capabilities to its arsenal. In such a way online stores could add another channel of communication with their clients, updating them on their order status, informing them about special deals, and sending them personalized shopping options.