Over the past 10 years, Qubit raised $75m in venture capital for its recommendations, badging, and insights tools

Ben Wodecki, Jr. Editor

October 18, 2021

2 Min Read

Canadian enterprise software firm Coveo has acquired British ecommerce startup Qubit.

Coveo said the purchase will allow it to expand into Europe as well as give retailers the ability to “tap into AI-powered commerce search that detects shopper intent and determines individual context.”

The startup counts the likes of Kurt Geiger, Tailored Brands, and Fanduel among its customers, and works with companies across luxury fashion, DIY, and hospitality sectors.

No financial details were disclosed, but around 90 Qubit employees will be joining Coveo, bringing the company’s total employee number to 750.

“Coveo’s expansion into the European region and focus on delivering innovative and forward-thinking ecommerce solutions powered by AI is a strategic part of our plan to grow our product offering,” said Laurent Simoneau, co-founder, president, and CTO of Coveo.

Purchase to power personalization

Coveo was founded in 2005. Having raised some $340m, the ‘unicorn’ develops a wide range of intelligent enterprise search and predictive insights platforms for businesses.

Meanwhile, Qubit was established in 2010 by a team of former Google employees, including CEO Graham Cooke – who worked there as a senior project manager for e-commerce. It raised a total of $75m in venture capital from investors including Accel, Future Fifty, and Balderton Capital.

Cooke said his team was "delighted" to be joining Coveo.

“Our two businesses complement each other perfectly across both technology and expertise and are aligned to deliver a total solution for the benefit of our customers' success,” he said.

“We look forward to delivering more business value to our collective customers as we roll out our integrated offering that drives forward the next level of personalization.”

Coveo said its latest purchase will allow for better engagement with shoppers across what it described as “expanding digital touchpoints – from chatbot to mobile applications, from digital store to marketplaces, all enabled through plug-in UI components, headless API, and open commerce support.”

“Further, adding Qubit’s tools to its AI arsenal will improve personalization for merchandising teams – from personalized search to product and content recommendations, from guided browsing to product listing pages, all optimized through A/B and Multivariate testing and analytics,” the company said.

Qubit is Coveo’s second acquisition, following the purchase of AI-based digital commerce engine company Tooso back in 2019.

About the Author(s)

Ben Wodecki

Jr. Editor

Ben Wodecki is the Jr. Editor of AI Business, covering a wide range of AI content. Ben joined the team in March 2021 as assistant editor and was promoted to Jr. Editor. He has written for The New Statesman, Intellectual Property Magazine, and The Telegraph India, among others. He holds an MSc in Digital Journalism from Middlesex University.

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