TellApart is a technology company.
TellApart has raised $18.0M across 2 funding rounds.
Key people at TellApart.
TellApart has raised $18.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
TellApart has raised $18.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
TellApart's investors include Addition, Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Cota Capital, Drive Capital, First Round Capital, Flex Capital, Greylock, Joe Kraus, Harrison Metal, Lobby Capital, Moonshots Capital.
Key people at TellApart.
TellApart was a marketing technology company that built an integrated suite of tools for data-driven personalization, enabling retailers to deliver real-time, personalized messages across display ads, social media, email, and websites to drive omnichannel commerce.[1][2][3] It primarily served e-commerce retailers like Brookstone, Neiman Marcus, Warby Parker, and Wayfair, solving the problem of abandoned shopping carts—where over 95% of visitors leave without buying—through advanced retargeting that analyzed customer data to show dynamic, personalized ads and turn lost shoppers into return customers.[1][2][3] The company demonstrated strong growth momentum, raising funds from top investors like Greylock Partners and Bain Capital Ventures, driving billions in incremental revenue for clients, before being acquired by Twitter (now X) in April 2015 for a reported $6 million.[1][3]
TellApart was founded in 2009 in Burlingame, California, by former Google engineers Josh McFarland and Mark Ayzenshtat, who left the company to revolutionize retargeting.[1][2][6] Ayzenshtat, a Columbia University alumnus ('04CC), had been a Senior Software Engineer at Google, leading projects like the Android Market, AdWords API, and search quality improvements; he later served as Entrepreneur in Residence at Greylock Partners before becoming TellApart's CTO.[2] The idea emerged from recognizing that basic display ad retargeting, despite being over a decade old, lagged behind modern tech like cloud-based data storage, predictive analytics, real-time media buying, and dynamic ad serving—leveraging their Google expertise in data and ads to help e-commerce sites recapture abandoning visitors.[1][2][6] Early traction came quickly: in 2010, they unveiled the service and secured $4.75 million in Series A funding led by Greylock Partners, with partner James Slavet joining the board.[1]
TellApart rode the early 2010s wave of big data and predictive analytics in martech, capitalizing on the explosion of e-commerce and the need for omnichannel strategies as shoppers fragmented across devices and platforms.[1][2] Timing was ideal post-2008 recession, when retailers sought cost-effective revenue tools amid rising online abandonment rates, amplified by mobile growth and social commerce.[2][3] Market forces like advancing cloud tech and real-time bidding favored its innovations, positioning it ahead of stagnant competitors and influencing the ecosystem by popularizing data-driven retargeting—paving the way for modern personalization stacks now integral to platforms like Twitter's MoPub post-acquisition.[1][3]
Post-2015 acquisition by Twitter, TellApart's tech was integrated into Twitter's (now X's) advertising ecosystem, enhancing its MoPub platform for better e-commerce targeting, though it operated more quietly under the parent company.[1] Looking ahead, its legacy endures in the dominance of AI-powered personalization amid rising privacy regulations and cookieless futures, with trends like zero-party data and shoppable social media likely amplifying similar tools. As X evolves under new ownership, TellApart's foundational IP could resurface in revitalized commerce features, underscoring how early data pioneers like it shaped today's $500B+ martech landscape—proving that revolutionizing retargeting for abandoned carts was a prescient bet on personalized commerce.[1][2][3]
TellApart has raised $18.0M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $13.0M Series B in June 2011.
