Chord Announces $15M Series A as D2C Brands Prioritize Data

Chord is bringing in funds by the millions as D2C companies seek sharper data insights.

The New York-based startup, which offers more financially accessible data collection and insights for eCommerce companies, announced Wednesday (Jan. 18) that it has raised $15 million in its Series A funding round, a testament to the demand for better analytics tools for digital brands.

“Brands need easy access to the accurate data and key features that modern commerce requires, minus the vast expense and operational pain to attain it,” CEO and Co-founder Bryan Mahoney said in a statement. “We’re giving them the freedom and ability to work on their companies — building, growing, and perfecting them — without stressing over the technical side.”

The headless commerce platform makes claims on its site to boost subscription conversion by 50% and checkout conversion by 68%, providing front-end and checkout features, among others, in addition to data insights.

The news comes as direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands look to refine their data capabilities. In an interview with PYMNTS,  Maurice Contreras, CEO and founder of direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand Volcanica Coffee noted that, since the company switched from using BigCommerce to Shopify, it has gained vital information about its customers’ behavior, thanks to the latter’s data offerings.

“Just the ease and the number of tools that [Shopify has] was very surprising to me and very helpful, because that’s helped us a lot from a dashboard perspective,” Contreras said, being able to drill down and figure out those numbers.”

In fact, access to customer insights can be the motivating force behind launching D2C sales channels for some brands. Jon Dunnington, chief operating officer of OVO Vodka, said in a conversation with PYMNTS that the company plans to launch its D2C online shop early this year, noting that third-party sellers such as Drizly stand between alcohol brands and information about their eCommerce sales.

“All we can really see is which of our vendors use the platform, and then we can update our own platform through Drizly,” Dunnington said, “but we can’t access sales figures and things like that.”

By selling D2C, the brand can get a clearer picture of its shoppers’ behaviors.

It is not only emerging brands looking to refine their data insights on D2C channels. Incumbents are doing the same. Take, for instance, Nike, which has been using its direct channels to better target its customers’ habits.

“Nike is already learning more about our members, which helps us elevate in areas such as product creation, line planning, and the experiences we deliver,” CEO John Donahoe told analysts on the company’s fiscal second-quarter earnings call last month. “While it’s still early days on this journey, we’re excited by the foundation we’re creating. The ability to give consumers a personalized experience across channels, fueled by data and insight, opens up a whole host of opportunity for us.”

These moves come as the total eCommerce audience expands. Research from PYMNTS’ December study “How The World Does Digital: Different Paths To Digital Transformation,” the Q3 2022 PYMNTS ConnectedEconomy Index, which draws from surveys of more than 30,000 individuals across 11 countries, finds that digital transformation overall increased 7% in the United States in Q3.