Last week, Atlanta-based Cardlytics (CDLX) rang the NASDAQ bell to announce the pricing of its public common stock offering of 5,400,000 shares at $13 per share to raise $70.2 million before underwriting discounts and commissions. Prior to the IPO, Cardlytics had secured over $200 million in private funding.
“We’ve experienced significant momentum recently,” says CEO and co-founder Scott Grimes about this being the right time to launch their IPO.
“We’re really optimistic about our growth opportunities and look forward to scaling our platform further, all while creating long-term shareholder value.”
Founded in 2009, Cardlytics uses purchase-based financial intelligence to make consumer marketing campaigns more data-driven and measurable. With this focus on personalized data, the Martech company helps banks deepen their relationships with 
customers and increase loyalty, while saving them money. “We plan to continue to expand our relationships by leveraging our disruptive technology and proven business model that gives marketers a $30:1 return on ad spend and reduces customer attrition rates for banks by 17 percent,” says Grimes.
Cardlytics has scaled the company across the country, with offices in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, as well as London, England; they boast 350+ employees. The company has partnered with more than 2,000 financial institutions, including Bank of America, BB&T, PNC, Regions, and SunTrust, and several of the largest bank processors.
Cardlytics was also one of only 19 companies in Atlanta that made Deloitte’s annual Technology Fast 500 List in 2017.
Here, Grimes shares with Hypepotamus a little more about the journey ahead for Cardlytics, how he and co-founder/COO Lynne Laube are supporting their team through the transition, and how Atlanta played into their growth.
How do you hope the IPO will help Cardlytics grow?
While we already work with more than 2,000 financial institutions nationwide, there are more to add. And every day, we have a team dedicated to making our existing banks perform even better by making it an even more engaging user experience for consumers. And while we work with a lot of advertisers, we continue to grow our relationships them as well. Having a publicly-traded currency with a strong stable of investors who understand the value of our Purchase Intelligence platform will serve us well going forward.
How did you support your employees during and after the IPO and help them transition as a unit?
We didn’t just create a company, we created an industry. But we also wanted to create a company where people wanted to come to work every day and enjoyed what they were doing.
So, from day one, we have treated our employees like owners and have been as transparent as possible. But, the focus for our team has been — and will continue to be — developing innovative products, growing our Purchase Intelligence platform, and providing value for our bank and marketing partners.
How has Atlanta and its tech scene supported you through this process of growth?
We chose to found our company in Atlanta for a few reasons. Venture capital money goes further, this is a great payments hub, and most importantly, we have access to amazing talent in this city, and we only want to hire the best. The first component, specifically, was critical in helping us grow our company in the first two years, as we were able to do a lot with a smaller amount of capital.
Photos courtesy of Cardlytics/By Kelsey Ayres, Nasdaq, Inc.
