Relay Network Secures Additional $12 Million for New Customer Engagement Model

PHILADELPHIA, June 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Relay Network, the secure customer messaging company, today announced an additional $12 million in financing led by existing investors NewSpring Capital and supported by First Round Capital, as well as a new strategic investment through the Independence Health Group organization. Independence Health Group is the parent company of Independence Blue Cross. This latest investment brings the company's total funding to $28 million. The company will use the funding to continue scaling the platform and operations to help businesses better engage and service their customers, and drive adoption of their digital strategies.

Despite technical advancements in mobile and digital communications strategies, businesses still have a long way to go in improving their customer relationships. In 2015, bad customer service drove 52 percent of consumers to switch to other companies, costing businesses $1.6 trillion. Relay Network is addressing the problems of low digital adoption, poor customer service and lack of loyalty by offering a new mobile channel where companies can establish a personal, one-to-one connection with each user.

"Businesses are realizing a huge opportunity to improve customer relationships by making them feel more like personal interactions," said Matt Gillin, CEO and co-founder of Relay Network. "Social networks and messaging apps have changed consumer expectations for how they receive and absorb information. Customers want things to be easy, contextual and real time. Relay has developed a fundamentally different approach to solving the problem - we call it 'connected service.' Rather than dealing with service incidents as they happen, we establish a personal, one-to-one, known connection with every customer on their own communication network. We're the only one in the market doing it, and the payoff for both sides has been huge."

"This is a strategic opportunity for Independence that demonstrates how critical the member experience is for us," said Independence Blue Cross President and CEO Daniel J. Hilferty. "Our members want easy access to information and the ability to communicate on their terms through mobile devices. In today's business world, ease of communication is something that all consumers want and expect, which is why we decided to forge an alliance with Relay Network in addition to using their service."

Companies like Independence Blue Cross, Citizens Bank, and Direct Energy use Relay Network to bring their customers into their own private, secure and highly personalized messaging network. As evidence of increasing demand, Relay Network is forecasted to double its revenue in 2016, as it did in 2015, and triple the number of consumers served by its platform. The company has increased its clients by 100 percent, and has a client renewal rate of 99.96 percent year over year.

About Relay Network

Relay Network brings businesses and customers together on a private, secure communications network that enables more digital interactions by easily connecting customers to personalized information and support. Its connected service model establishes a direct, one-to-one connection with each user, eliminating the friction that gets in the way of great customer experiences. Companies such as Independence Blue Cross and Citizens Bank use Relay Network to connect with users and deliver information that is always relevant and personal, so they can create incredible customer experiences that last a lifetime. For more information, visit www.relaynetwork.com.

SOURCE Relay Network

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