Recast Raises $3.4M to Help Marketers Optimize Ad Spend with Data Science – AlleyWatch

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The problem is I don’t know which half.

It’s a famous quote from marketing pioneer John Wanamaker, and it still holds true more than 100 years later, especially in the age of omnichannel commerce, because it’s hard to accurately quantify marketing response. . RecastA data-focused marketing analytics and forecasting platform, is on a mission to change that. Leveraging AI, the company replicates hundreds of hours of manual data science work to market tools to establish real-time marketing mix modeling (MMM), forecasting and planning, and marketing optimization. You can give it to your team. house team. With the economy expected to contract, Recast says brands are shifting focus away from a ‘spray and play’ approach to effectively understanding revenue drivers from data due to macroeconomic concerns. So you can feel more confident knowing that your marketing spend drives your bottom line. Driven and holistic perspective. The platform is already being used by growing consumer brands such as Away, Harry’s, Masterclass, Rocket Money and Calibrate.

alley watch Catch up with Co-CEO and co-founder of Recast Michael Kaminsky To learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, the latest funding round that brings the total raised to $4.5 million, and more…

Who are your investors and how much did you raise?

Recast has raised $3.4 million in a seed funding round led by: Reller Hippo. who participated good friend (led by the founders of Warby Parker, Allbirds, and Harry’s) as well as Data Tech Fund, Vibe capital and industry experts Jonah Goodheart (Co-founder of brand advertising platform Moat) and Adam Grenier (ex Uber, ex Masterclass).

What products or services does Recast offer?

Recast puts cutting-edge marketing science tools into the hands of practitioners. Tools for marketing mix modeling (MMM), forecasting and planning, and powerful marketing optimization can be used directly by marketing teams without waiting for data scientists or outside consulting firms. Recast uses cutting-edge artificial intelligence and Bayesian statistics to automate processes that used to take hundreds of hours of manual data science.

What made you start Recast?

When I was leading the data science team at Harry’s, I evaluated many options for doing marketing mix modeling, but simply wasn’t satisfied with the products available on the market. Tom’s (co-founder) experience running a market research firm (Gradient Metrics) indicated that he had the same gap in the market. When I left Harry’s, we decided to team up and tackle this incredibly difficult statistical problem head-on.

How is it different from recast?

Recast is the first marketing mix modeling platform built for modern brands, offering a product that addresses the shortcomings of other measurement approaches. Recast is adaptive, “learning” over time to refine and improve its model. Recast can comprehensively assess the effectiveness of your marketing programs. It works equally well for online and offline channels, and works for trackable and untraceable distribution channels (online and in-store).

What is Recast’s target market and size?

Recast TAM is large (and growing!). Recast is on a mission to eliminate wasted marketing spend, and he estimates he could save $100 billion at companies that spend more than $500 billion on marketing.

what is your business model?

Recast is a SaaS platform with a subscription-based model.

How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?

We believe one of the best ways companies can prepare for an economic slowdown is to analyze and optimize their marketing spend. When capital was cheap, you could throw VC dollars into Super Bowl commercials, but those days are over. The Recast platform can tell CMOs where to cut and helps finance teams plan how marketing budget changes will affect top and bottom line performance.

We believe one of the best ways companies can prepare for an economic slowdown is to analyze and optimize their marketing spend. When capital was cheap, you could throw VC dollars into Super Bowl commercials, but those days are over. The Recast platform can tell CMOs where to cut and helps finance teams plan how marketing budget changes will affect top and bottom line performance.

What was the fundraising process like?

We were very lucky that many investors were excited to work with us despite the extremely difficult funding environment. We believe this is because we were able to demonstrate to investors that there is strong demand and willingness to pay for our products. We have customers who actually pay, so we weren’t trying to raise money with slide decks or dreams. Lucky to be.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in raising capital?

The biggest challenge for us arose when trying to determine competing term sheets for very different funds. It’s a very mentally draining process, and you have to make choices that affect the long-term future of your company based on what you know about people from hours of total interaction time. We are happy with the decision we have made, but it has been a very stressful few days!

What factors in your business are driving investors to write you checks?

Our investors recognize the innovation and grit that Recast’s founders bring to the table. Kaitlyn Strandberg, a partner at Lerer Hippeau said: Our investors are also listening to our customers. Customers see Recast as an essential tool for managing their marketing programs and delivering value quickly and effectively. Our investors recognize that Recast has successfully built a team of top-notch professionals with backgrounds in data science, econometrics and statistics.

What milestones do you plan to achieve in the next six months?

Recast plans to expand both its software engineering and data science teams to continue to grow its platform and extend its reach as the world’s best automated marketing science platform.

What advice can you give to New York companies that haven’t injected fresh capital into their banks?

There will always be capital available for a solid business. Sometimes that capital may be more expensive than you’d like, but a solid business that makes a profit per unit can always find willing investors. Core Product and Business Fundamentals Focusing on is something every leader should do, no matter how much capital they have in the bank (or how difficult or easy the venture funding environment is).

There will always be capital available for a solid business. Sometimes that capital may be more expensive than you’d like, but a solid business that makes a profit per unit can always find willing investors. Core Product and Business Fundamentals Focusing on is something every leader should do, no matter how much capital they have in the bank (or how difficult or easy the venture funding environment is).

Where do you see the company going now in the near future?

We have the same roadmap as before, but with slightly more resources to bring new product features to our customers faster.

What is your favorite restaurant in the city?

Williamsburg feather bird. Pepper sweat does not accumulate.

---

You’re just seconds away from signing up for Tech’s hottest list.

SIGN UP TODAY

---