Brno December 2, 2020 – Smartlook is a start-up from Brno, Czech Republic, developing tools for analysing customer behaviour on websites or mobile apps. In what seems to be a very memorable autumn, the start-up separated itself from the original company Smartsupp and also gained an investment of 3.6M dollars. The lead investor in this round is a Dutch investment fund Airbridge Equity Partners, which is accompanied by former investors Novira Capital and Reflex Capital. The funding will be used primarily for developing their product for the use of middle-sized and large companies. The investment will also help Smartlook to strengthen its position in the US market, which is already today, generating almost a third of their overall revenue.
Smartlook: A different approach to customer analytics
In the complicated world of various computer platforms, browsers, operating systems and their updates, it is more and more demanding to execute the customer journey flawlessly. Bugs and errors can, however, significantly impact the income of every company. Traditional analytics tools can’t answer the “why” question behind user design, so finding bugs in an app or on the web was a lengthy process. The flawed design will affect every department – developers, support, marketeers and sales as well. And exactly this was the reason why Petr Janošík founded Smartlook in 2016, back then only as a side product of already existing company Smartsupp. Since then, the spin-off company Smartlook became a globally successful business used by customers all over the world, from the US and Brazil to the UAE. Every month, more than half of billion recordings are analysed.
Startup bankers arranged successful Dutch funding
With the rapid growth and first enterprise customers, the managers in the company quickly realised that a large “Round A” investment could allow Smartlook to become a true leader in the global market. “We didn’t have any experience with such a large investment. Just looking for investors and preparing all the necessary paperwork would take months and we wanted to use our precious time for the development of our product instead,” says Petr Janošík, CEO and founder. In the end, the company hired a startup banking company. The investment company was invaluable in speaking with potential investors but also preparing materials such as pitch deck or business plan.
“I would hire a startup banking company again. Unfortunately, in our country, this way of raising money is almost unknown. But I’m recommending it to start-ups. Similar to when you are selling your house with a real estate agent, having a middle-man makes things easier,” summarises Petr Janošík.
The strenuous process of large investment was won by a Dutch investment fund Airbridge Equity Partners. The overall vision of Airbridge was in alignment with Smartlook, and they could also bring to the table their long experience working with B2B SaaS companies, along with important business contacts in the region. “Smartlook allows its clients to truly understand the behaviour of their customer’s thanks to seamlessly combining user recording and event tracking into one visual analytics solution. There is no other software solution on the market that offers this advanced approach, and we see great potential in its future. We can’t wait to work with Petr, Ondra and their fast-growing team of ambitious, highly educated and data-savvy experts to make Smartlook a prominent global player,” says Rick van Boekel, one of Airbridge Equity partners.
CEO Petr Janošík also holds in high regards their current investors Reflex Capitals: “It changed the way I see investors. The right investment partner can bring you not only money but also experience. Reflex Capitals helped me with the whole process, from choosing the right investment consultants to a final contract. They gave us a lot of time and effort,” says Janošík.
Improved product and offices in the US
The significant part of the whole investment will be put into the development. In the next couple of years, Smartlook will become more and more enterprise-grade complex software for large companies such as Miele or Komercni Banka (the largest banking house in Czech republic). In order for the product work among large teams in the enterprise sector, developers have to implement shared workspace, automatic reporting and invest in security measures to pass penetration tests and security certifications. Smartlook also plans to develop predictive analysis and invest in marketing, customer success and sales. Co-founder and CTO Ondřej Machek helps to manage those changes.
For now, almost one-third of the company’s income is generated by US customers, even though the company didn’t specifically focus on this market. US customers are becoming more and more important, as metrics CLTV (Customer Lifetime Value) or ARPA (Average revenue per account) are dozens of more percent higher for US customers than for European customers. To fully capitalise on the potential of the US market, the company decided to open a branch in the US and create a local team.
“We expect that this investment will, besides boosting our growth, lead to another investment round. This time, in the US. Our goal is to become a market leader in behavioural analytics by providing new innovative and fresh solutions on the global level,” summarises Janošík.
About Smartlook
Smartlook is a global SaaS start-up based in Brno, Czech Republic. The company provides a behavioural analysis of users on the web and mobile apps. Thanks to combining user recordings with analytical tools, Smartlook allows users to precisely track user interactions. This way, it helps to understand customers from their own viewpoint and remove bugs that are sabotaging the whole selling process. In the Czech Republic, Smartlook is used by companies such as Alza, O2, Dámejídlo.cz, Seznam.cz, and Home Credit. On the global level, it belongs to the world’s top 5 analytical tools. Every month, it generates more than half a billion user recordings.
