Longtail UX, an Australian SaaS startup who’s patented technology boosts businesses’ website ranking and ad performance on Google, has secured $2.5 million dollars in funding to expand its technology into the US and UK markets.
The fresh round of funding, which sees Longtail UX valued at $25 million, is a result of new and existing investors, including Andrew Bassat of SEEK, increasing their stake after the company successfully signed on Woolworths Group’s Dan Murphy’s, Adore Beauty, Booktopia and Yellow Pages as clients.
The global market spend for Search Engine Marketing (SEM) alone is $US100 billion.
With this funding, Longtail UX will expand its global sales team by 10x and appoint two VPs of Sales – one in the US and one in the UK to oversee growth in the Americas and EMEA.
The company has seen strong uptake of its SEO and SEM solutions across retail, automotive, real estate, financial services and insurance industries.
Longtail UX investor and Citi managing director Sean Larcombe commented: “As one of the original Longtail UX investors, I’m thrilled to support the recent capital raise. Longtail UX’s Australian patented technology is not only creating a buzz in the industry, but it addresses a need in the market and delivers real ROI for its users.”
Longtail UX co-founder and executive chairman Will Santow (feature image) added: “The recent success and excitement around our SEO and SEM technology has helped us raise more than double our initial goal of one million dollars.
“This investment will allow us to rapidly scale internationally by building out our sales teams and expanding our marketing efforts in The Americas and Europe.”
World-first solution to manage SEO like SEM
Longtail UX’s patented SEM technology is the world’s first solution to give businesses control over how their website appears on Google and allows companies to measure results and the return of their SEO investment at the keyword level.
When users click on a Longtail UX created Google Ad or organic search result, they find all matching products in the first click, rather than having to refine, scroll or search further from the initial product landing page.
Longtail UX co-founder and CEO Andreas Dzumla (feature image) added: “We’ve built a unique product that is driving massive value for our clients across a wide range of industries in the most important digital marketing channel that drives 50% of the US$4 Trillion global Ecommerce.
“The latest funding round allows us to properly invest in sales and marketing to make our product known to CMOs around the world.”
Current international Longtail UX clients include Bonnier Corporation, an American magazine publisher who uses the technology across their 32 websites, and Segundamano, a leading online classified website in Mexico, part of international marketplace group Adevinta with websites in 16 countries.
