Society Brands, the online store aggregator, has hired a chief technology officer and continues to invest in technology "at a time when the aggregator community faces uncertainty and downsizing," the Canton, Ohio, company said on Wednesday.
Launched in October 2020, Society Brands raised $204 million in equity and debt early this year, which the company has used to acquire several online brands and develop technology that generates growth and efficiencies for those brands.
On Wednesday, Society Brands said it has hired Ross Salupo as CTO, released a proprietary platform called Evo and announced a partnership with Sidestreet.ai, a data science firm in Northeast Ohio.
Ross Salupo
Salupo has more than 15 years of experience in large-scale data systems, including data products focused on consumer brands and the Amazon marketplace, Society Brands said.
Prior to joining Society Brands, Salupo served as CTO for Vertical Knowledge LLC in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, according to Salupo's LinkedIn page.
"Salupo brings with him vast experience in big data, data science, machine learning, systems integrations and technology products to Society Brands and his expertise will be an integral part of expanding our robust brand growth platform," said Justin Sirpilla, Society Brands' president, in a statement.
Evo
Short for "evolution," Evo is a first-of-its-kind, proprietary platform that Society Brands developed to provide its acquired brands with unified customer service, fulfillment, logistics, demand planning, marketing and financial analysis capabilities to boost their operations and growth, the company said.
The Evo platform also centralizes data storage, analytics and reporting across more than a dozen systems to give Society Brands a real-time view of each of its brands' performance across several metrics, it said.
Sidestreet.ai
Society Brands also has partnered with Sidestreet.ai, a local data science firm, to create customized data infrastructure products that will help its acquired brands make data-driven decisions, the e-commerce company said.
Sidestreet specializes in data engineering and analytics and is expected to support Society Brands' technology vision and help fuel the company's brand acquisition growth, the aggregator said.
In September, Society Brands was one of two Blazer winners in Cleveland Business Journal's inaugural Fire Awards program.
