Startups > Swiftly

Swiftly

Swiftly helps grocers and CPG brands drive in-store sales through retail media.

Series C $266M total Founded 2017 Seattle, Washington 118 employees

Swiftly is a vertical SaaS platform and retail media marketplace that unifies first-party shopper data across POS, loyalty, ecommerce, and mobile to enable identity resolution, audience targeting, and closed-loop attribution. The platform serves both grocery retailers and CPG brands, allowing independent and regional grocers to compete with Amazon and Walmart through digital engagement tools, personalized loyalty programs, and high-margin media monetization. Major customers including PepsiCo, Red Bull, and Kraft Heinz use Swiftly to drive in-store sales across 33,000+ locations. Swiftly operates a two-sided marketplace where retailers gain digital surfaces and CPG brands access premium, retailer-owned inventory via a unified campaign engine.

Problem solved

Independent grocers lack the digital infrastructure and data capabilities to compete with retail giants on personalized customer engagement and media monetization.

Target customer

Independent and regional grocery retailers (e.g., Save A Lot, Family Dollar, Dierbergs) and CPG brand manufacturers (e.g., PepsiCo, Red Bull, Kraft Heinz) seeking to monetize shopper data and drive targeted in-store sales.

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Founders

Henry Kim

CEO & Co-Founder

Previously CEO of Symphony Commerce (2011-2018) and Operations Partner at BMEquity; started career at Morgan Stanley as Sr. Analyst; attended Bowdoin College.

Sean Turner

CTO & Co-Founder

Head of Product at Symphony Commerce; graduated from USC Viterbi School of Engineering in Computer Science and Computer Engineering.

Karen Ho

Co-Founder & Head of Mobile Development

Holds B.S. in Material Science and Engineering and M.S. in Computer Science from Cornell University; mentored female engineers at Hackbright Academy.

Funding history

Seed $15.6M September 2019 Led by Unknown · Unknown

Series B $100M March 2022 Led by Unknown · Liquid2 Ventures, Bramalea, Gaingels, Silicon Ventures, Proof VC, Western Technology Advancements, Sand Hill Angels, The Martin Family

Series C $100M September 2022 Led by BRV Capital Management · Unknown

Total raised: $266M

Industries

E-Commerce Platforms E-Commerce Retail Technology Shopping

Pricing

Revenue-sharing model based on advertising spend rather than SaaS fees. Customers can start with single modules or deploy full stack with tiered plans scaling from entry-level to enterprise. Campaigns can launch within days. Contact for specific pricing.

Notable customers

PepsiCo, Red Bull, Kraft Heinz, Target, Sheetz, Save A Lot, Family Dollar, Dierbergs, Zion Markets

Integrations

POS systems, loyalty programs, ecommerce platforms, mobile apps, PDI Technologies, Advantage Solutions

Tech stack

jQuery (JavaScript libraries) core-js (JavaScript libraries) Zendesk (Documentation) ShareThis (Widgets) Google Analytics (Analytics) Facebook Pixel (Analytics) reCAPTCHA (Security) Google Font API (Font scripts) Nginx (Web servers) OpenResty (Web servers) Varnish (Caching) Microsoft 365 (Email) Google Hosted Libraries (CDN) MailChimp (Marketing automation) Google Tag Manager (Tag managers) Webflow (Page builders) Salesforce (CRM) Google Remarketing Tag (Retargeting) GoDaddy (Hosting)

Website

swiftly.com/

Competitors

Dmall

Direct competitor in retail media but lacks Swiftly's focus on independent grocers and closed-loop attribution.

Moloco

Broader e-commerce advertising platform without grocery-specific identity resolution and loyalty integration.

Zenput

Focused on retail operations and compliance rather than retail media and audience targeting.

Criteo

Large-scale retargeting platform but less specialized in first-party grocery data and closed-loop retail media attribution.

Inmar

Legacy coupon and promotion platform without modern SaaS infrastructure and self-serve campaign capabilities.

Why this matters: Swiftly raised $266M at a $1B+ valuation to solve a massive market gap: helping independent grocers compete with Amazon and Walmart through retail media. As retail media becomes a high-margin growth engine for CPG brands, Swiftly's closed-loop attribution and shopper identity unification position it as a category leader in the fragmented grocery tech space.

Best for: Independent and regional grocery retailers wanting to launch retail media networks and compete digitally, and CPG brands seeking granular, retailer-owned audience targeting with proven ROI.

Use cases

Holiday Season Retail Media Campaign

A regional grocery chain used Swiftly's Audience Optimizer to target shoppers during the 2023 holiday season, delivering 3M+ impressions and generating $33K per store in media revenue with 5.5X ROI. The campaign demonstrated how real-time audience segmentation and personalized offers drive measurable revenue lift.

Loyalty Program Growth and Basket Expansion

A grocery retailer deployed Swiftly's rewards-focused audience targeting to boost loyalty sign-ups, achieving 89% repeat shopper rates and 12% increase in average basket size. This shows how targeted promotions tied to loyalty data drive both acquisition and customer lifetime value.

Total Store Sales Lift Through Personalized Targeting

Swiftly's Audience Optimizer delivered a 2.9% lift in total store sales for a retailer by enabling personalized shopping experiences at scale. This use case highlights how closed-loop attribution proves the ROI of digital retail media vs. traditional advertising.

Alternatives

Criteo Larger, public company with broader digital advertising reach but less specialized in grocery retail and first-party data monetization for independent grocers.

Inmar Intelligence Established platform for coupon and promotion management but built on legacy technology without modern self-serve campaign tools or advanced identity resolution.

Moloco Strong in mobile and e-commerce advertising but not purpose-built for in-store retail media and grocery-specific shopper identity unification.

FAQ

What does Swiftly do? +

Swiftly is a retail media platform that unifies shopper data from POS, loyalty, ecommerce, and mobile to enable grocery retailers and CPG brands to drive targeted in-store sales, build personalized loyalty programs, and monetize first-party data. It operates as a two-sided marketplace where retailers gain digital engagement tools and advertising revenue, while CPG brands access premium, retailer-owned audience inventory with closed-loop attribution.

How much does Swiftly cost? +

Swiftly uses a revenue-sharing model based on advertising spend rather than traditional SaaS fees. Customers can deploy single modules or the full stack with tiered plans scaling from entry-level to enterprise. Campaigns can launch within days. Contact Swiftly directly for custom pricing.

What are alternatives to Swiftly? +

Alternatives include Criteo (broader digital advertising), Inmar Intelligence (legacy coupon platform), Moloco (e-commerce advertising focus), Zenput (operations-focused), and Dmall (retail media competitor). Each has different strengths in scale, industry focus, or technology approach.

Who uses Swiftly? +

Independent and regional grocery retailers (Save A Lot, Family Dollar, Dierbergs) and major CPG brands (PepsiCo, Red Bull, Kraft Heinz) use Swiftly to drive targeted sales across 33,000+ locations including Target and Sheetz.

How does Swiftly compare to Criteo? +

Swiftly is purpose-built for in-store grocery retail media with first-party shopper data unification and closed-loop attribution, while Criteo is a broader digital advertising platform. Swiftly is better suited for independent grocers seeking to monetize retail media; Criteo is stronger for large-scale cross-channel campaigns.