Brickwork Raises $5M Series A Financing To Enhance Omnichannel Retail Marketing Platform

NEW YORK, Oct. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Brickwork (www.brickworksoftware.com), the first software platform to bridge the experience gap between e-commerce and brick and mortar retail, today announced a $5 million Series A financing round led by Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE: SFE), with participation from new investor Recruit Strategic Partners, along with existing investors Advancit Capital, Beanstalk Ventures, Cowboy Ventures and Forerunner Ventures. Proceeds from the financing will be used to expand sales and marketing and strengthen the platform with deeper data science and analytics.

Founded in 2013, Brickwork is the first omnichannel software solution to power a new digital presence for physical retail stores, featuring online-to-in-store conversion funnels to influence decision-making and improve overall customer experience. Through advanced store locators and location pages, appointment, event and promotion management, a customizable content management system, and key data and analytics offerings, Brickwork has seized noticeable market share with leading global brands such as Urban Outfitters, J. Crew and Bonobos.

"There has been a fundamental shift in consumer behavior over the past five years, which retailers are just beginning to wake up to—that nearly every customer starts their buying experience in digital," said David Munczinski, founder and CEO of Brickwork. "Most retailers focus their websites and digital marketing strategies around getting a customer to their online checkout. However, they're ignoring the fact that the vast majority of customers are online or on mobile devices with the intent to purchase in-store. Brickwork recognizes this tremendous market opportunity and has built a platform to increase conversion, improve personalization, grow average order value, and in-turn, generate higher customer life-time value."

Brickwork's clientele represents a major shift occurring in the retail industry as a whole, as both traditional and digital-native retailers see the value in physical stores as an engine for brand experience and outlets to drive the final sale. As a result, retailers are investing in technology that delivers a true omnichannel presence.

"As we look ahead, we identified Safeguard and Recruit as the right strategic partners to help us scale our business," Munczinski continued. "Safeguard brings a proven track record of identifying and scaling promising marketing technology companies, and we see great partnership opportunities with partner companies such as Clutch, MediaMath, Spongecell and WebLinc. In parallel, Recruit's global footprint provides Brickwork with access to leading global retailers."

"There is growing need by retailers to deliver a seamless, omnichannel shopping experience that takes consumers from online to physical stores, but yet most of the innovation to date has been centered around a retailer's online presence," said Safeguard's Managing Director, Erik B. Rasmussen, who will join Brickwork's board of directors. "Brickwork, led by a great team with deep domain expertise in retail, omnichannel marketing and e-commerce, has built a platform to bridge the gap between consumer e-commerce and brick and mortar experiences by powering a new digital presence for physical stores to help drive online-to-store sales."

About Brickwork
Brickwork helps retailers inform, target, convert, and prepare for store shoppers online as the first scalable SaaS platform powering a seamless customer path between online and in-store shopping. Today, the consumer journey to store is digital: while 90% of sales occur in physical stores, over 80% of customers start their path to purchase online. The Brickwork platform includes applications around services and appointments, events and promotions, and associates and stylists—all delivered via immersive store pages and widgets embedded within e-commerce sites. Founded in 2013 in New York City by a team with extensive experience in omnichannel marketing and e-commerce for world-class retailers and brands, Brickwork is backed by Advancit Capital, Beanstalk Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, Recruit Strategic Partners, and Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE). For more information, please visit www.brickworksoftware.com.

About Safeguard Scientifics
Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE) provides capital and relevant expertise to fuel the growth of technology-driven businesses in healthcare, financial services and digital media. Safeguard targets companies that are capitalizing on the next wave of enabling technologies with a particular focus on the Internet of Everything, enhanced security and artificial intelligence, which includes predictive analytics and machine learning. Safeguard typically deploys between $5 million and $25 million over the course of its partnership with a company, initially investing in a Series A or B Round and opportunistically in a Seed Round. Safeguard has a distinguished track record of fostering innovation and building market leaders that spans more than six decades. For more information, please visit www.safeguard.com or follow us on Twitter @safeguard and LinkedIn.

Forward-looking Statements
Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. The risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others, our ability to make good decisions about the deployment of capital, the fact that our partner companies may vary from period to period, our substantial capital requirements and absence of liquidity from our partner company holdings, fluctuations in the market prices of our publicly traded partner company holdings, competition, our inability to obtain maximum value for our partner company holdings, our ability to attract and retain qualified employees, market valuations in sectors in which our partner companies operate, our inability to control our partner companies, our need to manage our assets to avoid registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, and risks associated with our partner companies, including the fact that most of our partner companies have a limited history and a history of operating losses, face intense competition and may never be profitable, the effect of economic conditions in the business sectors in which Safeguard's partner companies operate, and other uncertainties described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Many of these factors are beyond the Company's ability to predict or control. As a result of these and other factors, the Company's past financial performance should not be relied on as an indication of future performance. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements or other information contained in this press release.

MEDIA CONTACT
Heather Hunter
Vice President, Corporate Communications
Safeguard Scientifics
610.975.4923
hhunter(at)safeguard(dot)com

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