As companies rode out the COVID-19 pandemic, funding activity continued in the CX space. The rapid shifts that companies had to make during this time have only proven how important CX technologies will be to businesses as they aim to provide personalized, frictionless, and omnichannel experiences.

Dash Research recently profiled 150 representative companies in the CX space, focusing on customer data & analytics, personalization & optimization, customer feedback, customer relationship management, contact center, and employee experience. From 2019 through 2021, 33% of the 150 companies received a funding round. In 2020 and 2021, many contact center companies garnered funding, likely spurred by this sector rising to the occasion to serve customers who could no longer address concerns in person. Often using multiple channels for customer contact, or turning toward self-service, customers drove a lot of change in this segment. Funding allocated to contact centers was no doubt leveraged as these companies made a rapid shift to moving technology to the cloud, as well as using artificial intelligence (AI) and conversational technologies.

Selected M&A Funding in the CX Market

Data & analytics, as well as personalization & optimization were other hot funding areas. The increased move to digital brought increased data loads, which companies often struggled to house, combine, analyze, and provide insights on. This made technologies in this sector appealing to fund. Likewise, as brands were unable to be high touch during the pandemic, they ramped up usage of hyper-personalization technologies to stand out, keep customers engaged, and create experiences that helped customers feel that the brand was easy to interact with and knew them. Dash Research will continue following funding activity in the CX market, expanding the view past the Dash Research 150, as 2021 is expected to remain a strong year. The third quarter of 2021 is already starting off with funding rounds for Amperity (customer data & analytics), CRMNEXT (customer relationship management), and Thrive Global (employee experience).