Monetate raises $8M; CEO Brussin sees IPO as future goal

Monetate raised $8 million from existing investors Boston’s OpenView Venture Partners, Connecticut’s Common Fund and New York City’s Lead Edge Capital, according to a release. CEO David Brussin plans to take the company public in the next years, he has said.

The raise appears to be one way that Monetate is preparing for that goal, and might remind you of Ben Franklin Technology Partners Alan Kraus calling on Monetate at a Philly Tech Week event this year to prioritize being an acquirer, not getting acquired.

The Conshohocken ecommerce optimization company will use the money to support its growth, the release said. At the end of October, the company said it needed to hire 60 staffers by the end of the year (and it was willing to pay a $5,000 referral bonus for anyone who could help them with that goal). Monetate was at 187 staffers then and is now nearing 200, according to a release.

Monetate also said that its product influenced more than a third of U.S. sales post-Thanksgiving, from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, and that its customers’ revenues were up 50 percent since last year . That influence is higher than normal for the company, as Brussin has said that Monetate customers manages a quarter of all domestic internet sales.