• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 13, 2010

Unica Corp. on Wednesday announced the acquisition of privately held email marketing software provider Pivotal Veracity for $17.8 million in cash.

Waltham, Mass.-based Unica makes enterprise-marketing software. Its flagship product, dubbed NetInsights, is an interactive campaign management tool geared for larger companies like Best Buy, Comcast, Monster Worldwide, and Time Warner.

While a distinctly Web 1.0 medium, Unica CEO Yuchun Lee believes that effective email campaigns are critical for any modern marketer.

"We believe that email deliverability, which encompasses analysis and management of inbox placement, content rendering, and reputation management, is a mission-critical technology for marketers," said Lee. "In a world where virtually all email is filtered, marketers must pay keen attention to how their digital communications are perceived and whether they reach the recipient's inbox."

Before the acquisition was even announced, Unica had already integrated Pivotal Veracity's software into its core offerings.

Founded in 2003, Phoenix-based Pivotal Veracity reported overseeing over 15 billion marketing-related emails per month by 2008. The privately held company's customers include Cabela's, Cisco, Classmates.com, Digitas, Nestle, Progressive Insurance, Rapp Collins, and Sears.

Pivotal Veracity founders Deirdre Baird and Michelle Eichner will join Unica, according to the company.

Founded in 1992, Unica went public in 2005. For its 2009 fiscal year, which ended September 30, the company reported $100.6 million in total revenue -- down 16.9% from fiscal 2008 -- and a $21.8 million loss. The company is expected to report financial results for its first quarter of fiscal 2010 on February 1.

Despite the rise of new technologies, email usage continues to grow. In August 2009, 276.9 million people used email across the U.S., several European countries, Australia and Brazil, according to Nielsen -- up 21% from 229.2 million in August 2008.

The number of users on social-networking and other community sites jumped 31% to 301.5 million people, according to Nielsen, but it recently released another report, which found that increased social media usage is actually leading to greater email usage.