Clutch Buys Mobile Specialist Persio

US company Clutch, which works in customer management and marketing analytics, has acquired intelligent mobile promotions platform Persio. The firm has also secured a $5.25m round of funding and added payment processing veteran Larry Stone to its board of directors.

Clutch offers an Integrated Customer Management platform, integrating data from point-of-sale, ecommerce, mobile and social channels, and helping brands to identify, understand and motivate each segment of their customer base.

Persio was founded as recently as 2012, and creates mobile campaigns using techniques such as mobile scratch-and-win offers, image and video text messages, and promotions for mobile apps. The firm uses behavioral and demographic data to allow clients to segment and analyse consumers, and then to send them messages and promotions - for example asking them to provide a review of customer service, or inviting a lapsed customer to return.

Clutch says the addition of Persio will enable to help clients automate mobile solutions for the delivery of marketing and admin messages, and that added mobile functionality will be available to them in the first quarter of 2017. Ned Moore (pictured left) will stay as CEO of the combined company, while Nick Doulas (right), co-founder of Persio, will take the role of Head of Product. The new Clutch will employ 75 people in the Philadelphia suburbs and in Persio's existing offices in Chicago.

Stone joins the Board with more than 27 years' experience, managing companies and accelerating their growth. He currently serves on the board of directors at JetPay and acted as principal of Mercury Payment Systems, leading its 2014 sale to Vantiv.

Moore says the buy will make his firm 'the first [platform] to support the marketer with a comprehensive view of customers across all buying and marketing channels'. He adds: 'The addition of Persio's intelligent mobile platform will allow us to deliver these experiences instantly and with greater context'.

According to Doulas: 'Clutch built its business on unifying data to give marketers an actionable, complete view of their customers, and blending our capabilities with theirs is just natural. Together we can integrate customer data into virtually every marketing activity, from loyalty and gift to direct mail or e-commerce, and of course, mobile'.

Web sites: www.clutch.com and www.pers.io .