Many of the largest and most successful online businesses — like Airbnb Inc. and Netflix Inc. — are constantly conducting experiments behind the scenes to see what new features, services or messages resonate with customers, typically testing one iteration against another.
But many smaller businesses may not have have sufficient expertise, resources or data for such experimentation. A San Francisco startup is hoping to give them a leg up.
Eppo Data Inc. designed its service to help companies of all sizes run, manage and analyze multiple experiments at a time. Its service uses statistical and machine learning models to help such businesses run tests more quickly and with less data.
"With the recent market dip and potential recession, we are seeing a huge boost to the demand for experimentation," Chetan Sharma, founder and CEO and founder of Eppo, said in a news release.
Sharma was one of the earliest members of Airbnb's data science team, according to his LinkedIn profile. Having joined the hospitality company at the tail end of the Great Recession, Sharma saw how Airbnb was able to use experimentation to not only weather the downturn but to thrive, according to the news release.
Eppo has some new funds to boost its own business. It announced Wednesday it's raised $16 million in Series A funding in a round led by Menlo Ventures. It plans to use its new money to hire more engineers and product developers, according to its press release.
Here's more on its round and other Series A funding news from this past week:
Sanas.ai Inc., Palo Alto, $32 million: Insight Partners led the round for this developer of a service that transforms accented speech in real time to be understood by those with different accents or dialects. GV, Assurant Ventures, Gokul Rajaram, Human Capital, General Catalyst, Quiet Capital and DN Capital also invested.
Pocus Inc., San Francisco, $23 million: Coatue Management led the round for this provider of a service that helps sales teams identify potential customers. First Round Capital, Box Group, GTMFund and Mantis VC also invested.
Eppo Data Inc. (dba Eppo), San Francisco, $16 million: Menlo Ventures led the round for this developer of a service that helps online companies to conduct and analyst tests of new features, services and messages. Amplify Partners also invested.
Join Inc., Oakland, $16 million: SignalFire led the round for this provider of collaboration software for architects, contractors and others involved in construction projects. Ironspring Ventures, Metaprop, Building Ventures and Standard Ventures also invested.
Bardeen Inc., San Francisco, $15.3 million: Insight Partners led the round for this provider of software that helps automate repetitive business tasks. 468 Capital and FirstMark Capital also invested.
Swing Therapeutics Inc., San Francisco, $10.3 million: Jazz Venture Partners led the round for this developer of cognitive behavioral therapy apps for use in treating chronic ailments including fibromyalgia. Alumni Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Asahi Kasei Corporate Ventures, Gaingels, Kicker Ventures, Mana Ventures and Metrodora Ventures also invested.
Neuron7 Inc., San Jose, $10 million: Battery Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners led the round for this provider of artificial intelligence-powered customer service software.
4CRisk.ai Inc., Redwood City, $8 million: Cloud Apps Capital Partners led the round for this provider of a service that helps companies understand and comply with their regulatory obligations. Touchdown Ventures also invested.
Saltalk Inc., Santa Clara, $8 million: Foothill Ventures led the round for this operator of an Asian foods-focused ghost kitchen that delivers in the Bay Area.
Ahana Cloud Inc., San Mateo, $7.2 million: Liberty Global Ventures and GV invested in this provider of data analysis software.
