Copenhagen-based Ocean.io, a disruptive startup building account-based marketing (ABM) solution, announced that it has raised €6.17M from Peak and existing investors. The investment not only shows trust in the growing importance of ABM but also Ocean.io’s unique AI-driven data platform helping marketers to target the right companies.
Why is Peak investing in Ocean.io?
Ocean.io is being called a European ABM trailblazer by Peak, an early-stage VC fully backed by entrepreneurs. Peak helps European startup founders to realise their visions quicker and since the team is composed of founders, they already know the battle scars attached to a founder building a disruptive startup.
Amsterdam-based Peak has been investing in early-stage SaaS, marketplace and platform companies instead of going after a specific industry vertical. Since it is composed of startup founders and entrepreneurs, Peak takes pride in its ability to help European founders scale their startups across stages of “maturity, verticals, or borders”.
The announcement to invest in Ocean.io aligns with this very fundamental of helping an eccentric European startup solve a problem that many companies are trying to solve but with poor results. Ocean.io is not only a differentiated startup but has found reasonable success. Peak says it will help Ocean.io to expand its operations in the US and also further develop its ABM through proven AI insights.
Johan van Mil, co-founder and Managing Partner of Peak, says, “Peak has more than a decade of experience in scaling marketplace, platform, and SaaS companies. Investing in a start-up with the calibre and ambition of Ocean.io was a no-brainer. In a time-poor and increasingly crowded world, hyper-personalised marketing and messaging is the key to better business. Ocean.io’s platform enables just that.”
Artificial intelligence is changing every industry and marketing is already seeing early signs of disruption. With Ocean.ai, Peak is investing in an AI-fuelled startup that takes large chunks of data and produces relevant results, and reduces customer acquisition costs by as much as 91 per cent.
Ocean.io: what you need to know
For every company, customer acquisition matters the most. For a marketer, finding and targeting the right customer is of extreme importance. While there are many ways to target a customer, including marketing lists and sending cold emails, Ocean.io says its ABM (Account Based Marketing) through proven AI insights will completely transform the way sales and marketing professionals find and target their prospects.
Salesforce estimates that 92 per cent of B2B marketers have an ABM programme, but countless businesses fail to fully capitalise due to inefficient processes and irrelevant prospects. Ocean.io turns the page on conventional approach by making ABM an account-driven and not people-based activity. It says that the best results are delivered by “having the relevant companies at your fingertips” and not by having access to names from the marketing department.
Ocean.io, founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2017, already counts big European and US clients such as Sony, UserTesting, Brandwatch, and JGL as its customers. The platform offers fast, tailored searches that carve through a plethora of information available to zoom in on accounts that form a perfect fit for a business’ Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
This is made possible by the account-based targeting that makes it easier to find the right accounts in a company search engine. It also offers filters and an AI lookalike finder to zero in on your prospects. It is followed by account-based personas that allow businesses to get in touch with the right people in the right companies. Lastly, market intelligence allows businesses to identify their best market segments and calculate total addressable market.
Ocean.io uses data collected from more than 300 million web pages, company registries and public databases to create structured and scalable data. It offers coverage across Benelux, DACH, France, The Nordics, UKI, Spain, ANZ, South Africa, and Singapore. It offers integration with Salesforce, Hubspot and Pipedrive to offer the most relevant data for a business.
“Our investors have seen the traction we are gaining, including a doubling of client numbers every two months. Every existing investor was involved in the latest funding round, showing the confidence in our capabilities and impact. This investment will help us to grow faster and help our customers as they grow exponentially within their markets,” says Michael Heiberg, CEO and founder of Ocean.io.
Ocean.io’s biggest trick is its ability to comb through massive amounts of data and stay context-aware as a platform. This leads to results that are hyper-relevant and never filled with companies that have zero chance of buying. With a more specific and relevant list, Ocean.io is changing how marketers approach their prospects and Peak is buying into its idea.
Josh Pudnos, Director of Commercial Operations at Brandwatch, says, “Ocean.io has taken a unique and clever approach to providing only the highest quality prospecting business data so that we’re focusing our time on those most likely to benefit from our products.”