• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 15, 2013

BrightTag has closed a $27 million funding round led by Yahoo! Japan. Current investors Baird Capital, EPIC Ventures, I2A, Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Tomorrow Ventures also participated in the most recent financing.

The deal expands on an existing partnership between the two companies that will see Yahoo! Japan build a real-time, cross-channel data management platform (DMP) on BrightTag's technology that it will launch in spring 2014, to help brand marketers and agencies use the mountain of customer information they collect, process and briefly store. The company reaches about 84% of the country's Internet users monthly.

Yahoo! Japan hopes to offer advertisers a better way to manage and use data. BrightTag's platform Fuse supports tags collecting data and track preferences. It integrates data about consumer activities across Web sites, mobile apps and social media platforms.

Most brands have access to tons of data through their Web sites, mobile apps, social media channels, call centers and brick-and-mortar locations, but many do not have the ability to filter and identify in real-time the most useful information, which helps to deliver relevant advertisements and marketing materials to consumers. It's about having the tools to turn lots of data into immediate actions, per Mike Sands, president and CEO at BrightTag.

The deal brings total funding to about $50 million. BrightTag, which supports clients like cars.com, Old Navy, Macy's, Rue Lala, JetBlue, Crate & Barrel, among others, will use the funds to accelerate the development of its patented technology and expand on efforts in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the United States. The company also plans to hire in the U.S., adding to its roster of about 80 employees.