Optimizely

Optimizely, Inc.
Private
Industry Software, Website Optimization
Founded January 2010
Founder Dan Siroker, Pete Koomen
Headquarters San Francisco, California
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Dan Siroker, CEO
Pete Koomen, CTO
Number of employees
350

Optimizely is a firm that makes customer experience optimization software for companies. The Optimizely platform technology provides businesses the ability to conduct A/B testing, multipage, and multivariate testing that may be used for making data-driven decisions. Their offering includes a testing product for websites (both desktop and mobile), as well as a testing solution for iOS apps.

History

Headquartered in San Francisco, California with offices in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Optimizely was founded in 2010 by Dan Siroker and Pete Koomen, both formerly of Google. Dan Siroker was a product manager for Google Chrome who also served as the Director of Analytics for the Obama campaign.[1] Pete Koomen was the product manager for Google's App Engine.[2][3]

Optimizely completed the Y Combinator program in the winter of 2010.[4] In November 2010, Optimizely closed a $1.2 million funding round from angel investors.[5] The company became cash flow positive in 2011. In May 2012, Optimizely announced that it has raised new funding from Battery Ventures, Google Ventures, and InterWest Partners.[6]

In April 2013, Optimizely raised $28 million in Series A round funding. The round was led by Benchmark, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures and Optimizely's existing investors Battery Ventures, InterWest Partners, and Google Ventures. Benchmark's Peter Fenton whose past investments include Yelp and Twitter joined Optimizely's board of directors.[7]

As part of a larger international expansion plan, Optimizely announced in April 2013 the launch of their platform in nine additional languages Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.[8]

In April 2014, the San Francisco Business Times ranked Optimizely as the #1 place to work among medium-sized companies (101-500 employees).[9] On April 17th, Optimizely held its first Opticon user conference, where they announced the launch of their new mobile app A/B testing software.[10]

In May 2014, Optimizely raised $57 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Benchmark and Bain Capital Ventures. As part of the round, Scott Weiss general partner at Andreessen Horowitz joined Optimizely's board of directors.[11]

Conference

Opticon is a user conference organized by Optimizely focused on web experience optimization.[12] The first Opticon conference was held on April 17, 2014 where Optimizely announced their mobile A/B testing product.[13][14] The second Opticon conference will be held on June 17 & 18, 2015 in San Francisco.[15]

Community Service

Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Optimizely helped the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund optimize its website resulting in an additional $1 million in contributions.[16]

Products

Optimizely's website and mobile app optimization solution is delivered in a software as a service (SaaS) model.[17]

Awards and honors

References

  1. Segall, Laurie. "Optimizely aims to give Obama 2012 a data edge". CNN. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  2. "YC-Funded Optimizely Makes It Remarkably Easy To Run A/B Tests On Your Website". TechCrunch. July 15, 2010. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  3. "Celebrities (but not Ashton Kutcher) share their top cloud & infrastructure picks at Y". VentureBeat. 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  4. "Yclist.com". 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  5. "Optimizely A/B Tests Its Way To $1.2 Million In Funding From A Roster Of Top Angels". TechCrunch. November 16, 2010. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  6. "A/B Tester Optimizely Raises Funding From Battery And Google Ventures, Plans Mobile Launch". TechCrunch. May 30, 2012. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  7. "Website Testing Service Optimizely Raises $28M Round Led By Benchmark, Plans Global Expansion". TechCrunch. April 10, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  8. "Optimizely's Web Optimization Platform Now Available in Ten Languages". PR Newswire. April 25, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  9. "The Bay Area's Best Places to Work 2014". San Francisco Business Times. April 18, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  10. "Optimizely Brings Its A/B Testing Platform To iOS Apps". TechCrunch. April 17, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  11. "Website Testing Company Optimizely Raises $57M Round Led By Andreessen Horowitz". TechCrunch. May 5, 2014. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
  12. "A/B testing company Optimizely raises a massive $57M". VentureBeat. May 5, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  13. "Optimizely's so fast, Web surfers won't notice it". USA Today. December 18, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  14. "Optimizely Brings Its A/B Testing Platform To iOS Apps". TechCrunch. April 17, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  15. "Opticon Conference". Optimizely. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  16. "Optimizely A/B Tests Its Way To $1.2 Million In Funding From A Roster Of Top Angels". TechCrunch. November 16, 2010. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  17. "Optimizely Raises $28 Million To Expand To Custom Website Service". Forbes. April 10, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  18. "2013 Top 100 North America: Finalists". Red Herring. 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  19. "Cool Vendors 2013". Gartner. 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  20. "Awards for Excellence 2013: Finalists". Digital Analytics Association. 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  21. "The Forrester Wave™: Online Testing Platforms, Q1 2013". Forrester. February 13, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  22. "30 Under 30: Technology". Forbes. 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  23. "The Bay Area's Best Places to Work 2014". San Francisco Business Times. April 18, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  24. "Best Places to Work Q&A: Empowered employees fuel Optimizely's rise". San Francisco Business Times. April 14, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2015.

External links