Neura, a mobile app engagement analytics startup, raises $16 million Series B

Neura, a startup that helps developers see how users interact with their apps, has raised a Series B of $16 million. The round was led by returning investors Pitango Venture Capital and Liberty Technology Venture. Other participants included Moneta Capital, Amdocs and AXA Ventures.

The San Francisco-headquartered startup's last round of funding was an $11 million Series A announced in 2016. The new round brings its total funding to $32 million and will be used on hiring, growing its business in the United States and the European Union and launching new products.

Neura currently has more than 30 clients in sectors including travel and hospitality, transportation and ride-sharing, health, e-commerce, food delivery and insurance. Its SDK enables developers to analyze data about how users engage with their apps and also how they use their mobile devices.

For example, menstrual cycle tracker MyDays used Neura to analyze how users respond to push notifications. It saw that when the app used notifications sent at set times of the day, more than 30% of their users received them while they were asleep and 25% got them after they had begun their daily routines. MyDays created notifications customized to when its users are most likely to respond to them, helping it increase retention by 32%.

For years, Neura has said it prioritizes protecting the privacy of users, an issue that is now gaining more awareness among consumers thanks to high-profile scandals like Cambridge Analytica-Facebook.

In an email, CEO Amit Hammer said that "focused on customer experiences, rather than advertising, Neura does not collect any personally identifiable information (PII) or user id, and is compliant with the strictest privacy regulations, such as GDPR. Today's consumers expect relevant and personalized digital experiences without compromising their privacy. We are glad to see more transparency in the mobile ecosystem."