Australian CDP Lexer Raises $33.5M In Funding

Lexer, the Customer Data Platform for brands and retailers, today announced it has raised AU$33.5 million in Series B funding, bringing its total funding to AU$43 million.

The round was led by Blackbird Ventures and King River Capital, with Series A investor January Capital also participating. Blackbird’s Rick Baker will join the Lexer board. The funding will be used to add 50 people to the team over the next 12 months, and to accelerate product development.

Founded by Aaron Wallis with co-founders Chris Brewer and Dave Whittle, for ten years Lexer has been quietly helping some of the biggest and most innovative brands and retailers in the world.

Companies use Lexer to collect and enrich fragmented data sources into a single customer view to genuinely understand and engage their customers in personalised ways.

“We exist to help brands orient their business around the customer, with our software using data to deliver human experiences,” said Dave Whittle, CEO of Lexer.

“Brands are awash with data these days, but it’s siloed, and they have no way of sorting, managing, gleaning insights and taking action from it. Using Lexer, a business can provide their customers the personalised experience they deserve. We call this genuine engagement.

Brands like Quicksilver, Zimmermann, Billabong, Optus and The Iconic are already using Lexer to drive customer success in marketing, sales, and customer service.

Supporting brands of all sizes as they rebuild the global economy

The global retail industry is under immense pressure as a result of COVID-19, with brands needing to rethink the way they engage with their customers, placing much greater focus on digital interactions. Ecommerce has not only become the key to survival, but crucial to the recovery of the global economy.

“A strong retail industry is integral to rebuilding the global economy, so we’ve got to ensure that businesses can make better decisions and give them the tools that they need to succeed,” Whittle said.

As a result of the shift in spending behaviour and digital-first shopping preferences, retailers have seen an explosion of data. Traditionally, retailers have had to plug in multiple data and analytics software to help make sense of the myriad data, which meant bigger expenses, and more technical data scientists to deal with it. Lexer alleviates this.

“Most retailers don’t have the time or resources to handle the massive amounts of data that have been created as part of the huge COVID-driven channel shift. Retail behemoths like Amazon have reset customer expectations by leveraging their large data sets to better target them, putting smaller retailers at an even bigger disadvantage. ” Whittle said. “We’re now democratising this intelligence and giving any sized brand accessible access to beautifully simple enterprise-grade software to help them better understand and engage their customers, enabling them to not only survive but thrive.”

Lexer sets sights on growing its global footprint

The new capital injection will support Lexer’s product development and global expansion as it looks to rapidly grow its team and customers.

The company is aiming to hire a person per week for the next year, doubling its headcount across Australia, the United States, and Southeast Asia. Significant investment in the platform will cement Lexer’s position as an emerging winner in the Customer Data Platform (CDP) sector.

“We love investing in companies that are defining a new world or shaping a new category, rather than just being a shinier version of a pre-existing business,” said Rick Baker, Partner at Blackbird Ventures. “Lexer is solving the holy grail of all business problems for retailers: how to get a perfect view of their customer and build truly customer centric experiences. The team is looking to redefine customer engagement just as Canva has redefined content creation.

“Retail is going through transformative changes, and brands need help to get through. Lexer’s vision and ambition is contagious. They’re going to take enterprise to everyone and power the new retail industry.”

King River Capital Partner, Zebediah Rice, said, “Lexer has a bright future across the global retail sector. Many brands will benefit from its products as they continue adapting to rapidly changing consumer behaviours. We are delighted to be investing in the company as it looks to international expansion.”

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