Customer data may be plentiful in ecommerce, but it’s rarely unified. That’s the gap Opensend hopes to close with its latest move.

The company announced it has acquired Fueled.io, a startup focused on organizing and activating first-party customer data for online merchants. The combined platform aims to help ecommerce brands transform anonymous site traffic into identifiable, actionable customer profiles—without requiring a full rebuild of existing marketing stacks.

The deal signals a growing shift in the marketing technology landscape as brands move away from third-party tracking and toward identity-driven, first-party data strategies.

Bridging the Anonymous Data Gap

Ecommerce businesses face a familiar challenge: the majority of site visitors remain anonymous, leaving marketers with incomplete customer profiles and fragmented data.

Opensend’s core technology focuses on solving that problem through identity resolution—identifying and enriching shopper activity across devices and sessions. By contrast, Fueled specializes in collecting and organizing first-party behavioral data such as:

• Purchases

• Site engagement

• Customer lifecycle events

• Marketing interactions

The acquisition combines those capabilities into a single workflow.

In simple terms, Opensend can identify who a visitor might be, while Fueled ensures that the resulting customer signals are structured and usable across marketing systems.

The goal is to create a seamless bridge between anonymous browsing activity and fully actionable customer data.

A Unified Customer Data Engine

For merchants, the combined offering promises deeper insights and stronger activation across multiple marketing channels.

Brands will be able to use enriched identity data to power:

• Paid advertising campaigns

• Lifecycle messaging and email marketing

• On-site personalization

• Customer analytics and measurement

By connecting identity resolution with structured data activation pipelines, the platform helps brands build more complete shopper profiles.

Those enriched profiles can then fuel targeting, personalization, and attribution across marketing workflows.

“This acquisition creates a new standard for how ecommerce brands identify and engage with their customers,” said Dahn Tamir. “By pairing our identity resolution with Fueled’s robust data activation pipelines, we’re enabling brands to grow and activate their audiences like never before.”

Why First-Party Data Is the New Battleground

The timing of the acquisition reflects broader changes across digital marketing.

With growing privacy regulations and the gradual decline of third-party cookies, brands increasingly rely on first-party data—information collected directly from customers through their own channels.

But gathering first-party data is only part of the equation.

Many companies struggle to:

• Centralize data from multiple touchpoints

• Maintain clean, structured event pipelines

• Activate those signals across advertising and CRM platforms

Platforms like Opensend and Fueled are designed to address exactly that gap.

Rather than replacing existing tools, the companies emphasize integration—allowing merchants to activate customer signals across their current marketing stacks.

Shared Customers Accelerate the Integration

The companies say many merchants already use both platforms, which should simplify the transition.

Existing shared customers will gain expanded identity enrichment capabilities combined with stronger data activation infrastructure as the products merge.

That integration could improve the accuracy of marketing signals used for segmentation, targeting, and performance measurement.

For ecommerce operators increasingly focused on measurable ROI, stronger signal quality can translate directly into better campaign performance.

Fueled Founder Joins Opensend Leadership

As part of the acquisition, Sean Larkin will join Opensend as Chief Product Officer.

In his new role, Larkin will lead product integrations and innovation across the combined platform, focusing on performance optimization and expanded data activation capabilities.

“Opensend has built a reputation for integrity and innovation in data,” Larkin said. “Our shared focus on transparency, accuracy, and respect for the customer made this partnership a natural fit.”

Larkin also emphasized the democratizing impact of the combined technology.

“Together, we’re giving merchants of all sizes the tools that only enterprise players previously had access to.”

The Bigger MarTech Trend: Identity + Activation

The Opensend–Fueled deal reflects a broader consolidation trend within marketing technology.

Historically, identity resolution platforms and customer data platforms (CDPs) operated in separate categories.

Identity platforms focused on identifying users, while CDPs focused on organizing and activating customer data.

Today, those categories are converging.

Brands increasingly want end-to-end customer intelligence systems that can:

1. Identify anonymous users

2. Build unified profiles

3. Activate data across channels

4. Measure marketing impact

The acquisition effectively positions Opensend closer to that unified model.

Privacy and Data Responsibility

The companies also emphasized responsible data practices as part of the deal’s strategic focus.

As regulators and consumers scrutinize how companies collect and use data, platforms that prioritize transparency and compliance are gaining importance.

According to Opensend, the combined platform will emphasize privacy-forward data practices, ensuring that brands can leverage first-party signals while respecting consumer expectations and regulatory requirements.

What Comes Next

Following the acquisition, Fueled will operate under the Opensend brand while its technology becomes integrated into the broader platform.

The combined company plans to focus on expanding tools that help ecommerce brands:

• Identify anonymous visitors

• Build unified customer profiles

• Activate first-party data across marketing channels

• Improve campaign measurement and attribution

In an era where customer data is both a strategic asset and a regulatory minefield, the companies are betting that merchants want a simpler way to turn data into action.

If they’re right, the future of ecommerce marketing may depend less on collecting more data—and more on finally making sense of the data brands already have.

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A new study from BrightEdge suggests AI search engines aren’t just answering questions—they’re quietly shaping brand reputations.

According to the company’s latest research, Google AI Overviews is 44% more likely to surface negative sentiment about brands than ChatGPT overall. But ChatGPT delivers criticism at a far more critical moment: right before customers make a purchase.

For chief marketing officers and digital teams, that dynamic introduces a new category of brand risk—one that traditional SEO metrics can’t fully capture.

The findings, powered by BrightEdge’s AI Catalyst platform, arrive as AI-powered search becomes mainstream. The company estimates more than three billion people now interact with Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT monthly, meaning AI-generated commentary about brands is reaching audiences at unprecedented scale.

And unlike traditional search results, where negative reviews might hide on page two, AI systems often summarize sentiment directly in the answer.

AI Is Becoming a Brand’s Editorial Voice

In many ways, AI search behaves like an editor.

Rather than simply indexing content, modern AI systems analyze information across the web—including news coverage, reviews, forum discussions, and historical controversies—and compress it into a single response.

That means a brand’s digital past, including long-forgotten controversies or outdated reviews, can resurface instantly when users ask questions.

“For better or worse, AI is your brand’s new editorialist,” said Jim Yu. “Each engine characterizes your brand differently, and CMOs must treat them as distinct, dynamic environments.”

Negative Sentiment Is Rare—but Still Massive

At first glance, the amount of negative sentiment appearing in AI responses seems relatively small.

BrightEdge found that:

• Google AI Overviews show negative sentiment in about 2.3% of brand mentions

• ChatGPT shows negative sentiment in about 1.6% of mentions

But scale changes the equation.

Across billions of queries each month, even those small percentages translate into millions of negative brand exposures delivered directly in AI-generated answers.

And because AI responses are often reused across similar queries, the same criticism may appear repeatedly for many users asking similar questions.

Google vs. ChatGPT: Two Very Different Critics

The study also found that the two AI systems behave differently when evaluating brands.

Google AI Overviews tends to surface negativity tied to controversy and external events, including:

• Lawsuits

• Regulatory scrutiny

• Product recalls

• Data breaches

• Public boycotts

In contrast, ChatGPT focuses more on product-level critiques, including:

• Feature limitations

• Compatibility issues

• Value-for-money debates

• Purchase recommendations

The result is that the same brand might face very different criticism depending on the AI platform.

A retailer might appear in Google’s AI responses because of a lawsuit mentioned in the news, while ChatGPT might highlight product return policies or payment restrictions.

The divergence stems largely from their source ecosystems.

Google’s AI Overviews lean heavily on news coverage and authoritative media, while ChatGPT often reflects product reviews, community discussions, and forums like Reddit.**

ChatGPT Hits Hardest Near the Point of Purchase

Perhaps the most surprising finding is when negative sentiment appears.

Most criticism in Google AI Overviews appears early in the customer journey.

BrightEdge found that 85% of Google’s negative sentiment surfaces during informational searches, when users are researching products or building shortlists.

ChatGPT behaves very differently.

While 68.5% of its negative responses also occur during the informational stage, nearly 19.4% appear during the consideration-to-purchase phase—when consumers are deciding whether to buy.

That’s 13 times higher than Google’s 1.5% rate at that stage.

In other words:

• Google shapes brand perception early in the funnel

• ChatGPT can directly influence conversion decisions

For marketers, that difference matters.

A negative AI response at the research stage may influence awareness. But criticism delivered just before purchase can derail a sale entirely.

AI Engines Rarely Agree on Which Brand Is at Fault

Another surprising discovery: AI platforms often disagree about which brand deserves criticism.

When BrightEdge analyzed queries where both engines surfaced negative sentiment, Google and ChatGPT flagged different brands 73% of the time.

This suggests that monitoring a single AI platform provides an incomplete view of brand perception.

Instead, companies may need to track sentiment across multiple AI ecosystems—each with its own content sources, ranking signals, and reasoning models.

Industry Differences Are Emerging

The research also found that AI criticism varies significantly by industry.

For example:

Electronics:
Both platforms show higher negativity rates, with Google leading due to product recalls and technology controversies.

Education:
Google is nearly twice as negative as ChatGPT, reflecting coverage tied to political and institutional scrutiny.

Apparel:
The pattern flips. ChatGPT is three times more negative than Google, largely because product evaluations dominate the conversation rather than controversy.

For brands, that means AI sentiment monitoring must be tailored to the dynamics of each vertical.

AI Is Surfacing the Internet’s Long Memory

Another challenge highlighted in the report is the way AI engines resurface historical content.

Because AI summarizes information across a brand’s entire digital footprint, events from years—or even decades—ago can reappear in modern responses.

Examples cited by BrightEdge include:

• A decade-old smartphone safety recall appearing in responses to queries about battery life

• A celebrity-brand partnership discussed in an old Reddit thread resurfacing as evidence of brand sentiment

• Insurance companies criticized for not renewing homeowner policies in California appearing in AI comparisons

In traditional search, users might need to dig through multiple pages to find such content.

In AI-driven search, those details appear instantly in the answer.

A New Metric for CMOs: AI Sentiment Visibility

For marketing leaders, the takeaway is clear: AI search has introduced a new layer of brand management.

Tracking visibility in AI-generated answers is no longer enough.

Companies now need to monitor how AI describes their brand, not just whether it appears in results.

That includes measuring:

• AI sentiment across platforms

• Share of voice in AI responses

• Source ecosystems influencing AI answers

• Funnel-stage impact on conversions

“Sentiment monitoring across all AI engines is no longer optional,” Yu said. “It’s a revenue imperative.”

As generative AI continues to reshape search, brands may find themselves optimizing not just for algorithms—but for AI’s evolving editorial judgment.

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At Embedded World 2026, industrial computing company DFI is rolling out a new wave of edge AI platforms designed to push artificial intelligence beyond pilot projects and into real-world industrial deployment.

Working closely with Intel, the company plans to showcase application-driven edge AI systems built for robotics, defense infrastructure, and medical imaging—sectors where reliability, power efficiency, and long-term system stability matter just as much as raw AI performance.

The announcement underscores a broader shift in industrial AI: moving from experimental proof-of-concept deployments to scalable, production-ready systems capable of operating in harsh environments.

Edge AI Moves From Lab to Factory Floor

Edge AI has been a major talking point across manufacturing, robotics, and infrastructure sectors for several years. But many deployments have remained limited to controlled demonstrations.

Industrial operators now want something different: platforms that combine AI inference with real-time control, deterministic networking, and long operational lifecycles.

DFI says its latest product portfolio is designed around exactly those requirements. Rather than building standalone AI appliances, the company is focusing on layered computing platforms that integrate AI acceleration, real-time processing, and industrial I/O in a single architecture.

The approach is particularly relevant for robotic automation systems such as robotic arms used in production lines—applications where even milliseconds of latency can affect precision and safety.

New Edge AI Hardware for Defense and Medical Applications

Among the products debuting at Embedded World 2026 is the PTH9HM COM-HPC Mini module, a credit-card-sized computing engine optimized for size, weight, and power (SWaP)—a key requirement in defense and unmanned systems.

Powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors with integrated Intel Arc GPU, the module supports real-time 8K vision processing and AI inference for applications including:

• Autonomous navigation

• Target recognition

• Threat detection and tracking

The module is engineered for rugged environments, operating in temperatures from –40°C to 85°C. It includes up to 64GB of LPDDR5x memory and supports PCIe Gen 5 connectivity, dual 2.5GbE networking, and TPM 2.0 security for mission-critical deployments.

For healthcare environments, DFI is introducing the PTH171 and PTH173 Mini-ITX edge AI motherboards, designed for medical imaging and diagnostic systems.

These boards use Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors capable of delivering up to 180 total TOPS (trillion operations per second) of AI performance. They include integrated Intel Arc graphics, PCIe Gen 5 expansion, and extensive display and I/O connectivity—features that support high-resolution imaging systems and diagnostic devices.

The boards also include Intel vPro manageability, allowing healthcare providers to remotely manage and maintain systems deployed in hospitals or diagnostic centers over long operational lifecycles.

One Platform for Robotics and Industrial Automation

Another key component of the showcase is the SF101-PTH compact industrial system, a performance-oriented edge platform built around Intel’s heterogeneous computing architecture.

Instead of relying on discrete GPUs, the system integrates:

• CPU processing

• Integrated GPU acceleration

• Dedicated NPU (Neural Processing Unit)

This combination enables the platform to run real-time control systems, machine vision workloads, and AI inference simultaneously.

The architecture also integrates real-time technologies such as Intel Time Coordinated Computing and Time-Sensitive Networking, enabling millisecond-level responsiveness for industrial control systems.

By eliminating the need for additional GPUs, the system improves power efficiency and reduces total cost of ownership—two critical factors in industrial environments where equipment may operate continuously for years.

Building the Foundation for Physical AI

DFI’s focus on robotics applications reflects a growing industry trend often referred to as “physical AI”—the integration of AI systems into machines that interact directly with the physical world.

Unlike cloud-based AI models that primarily process data, physical AI systems must combine sensing, inference, and real-time actuation.

That makes edge computing essential.

Robotic arms on a manufacturing line, for example, must analyze visual input, make decisions, and execute movements almost instantly. Sending those tasks to the cloud introduces latency that can disrupt operations.

DFI says its platforms are designed to handle those workloads locally while maintaining deterministic system behavior and long-term reliability.

Just as importantly, the company says the same platform architecture can be reused across multiple use cases—including machine vision, industrial control systems, and intelligent infrastructure—reducing engineering complexity for system integrators.

Intel’s Software Ecosystem Plays a Key Role

The collaboration also relies heavily on Intel’s edge AI software ecosystem.

Through tools such as OpenVINO and Intel Edge AI Suites, developers can build, optimize, and deploy AI models tailored for edge environments.

These tools help system integrators manage AI workloads across distributed industrial deployments while maintaining lifecycle stability—an essential requirement for sectors like manufacturing and healthcare where equipment often remains in service for a decade or longer.

According to DFI marketing head Jarry Chang, the company’s strategy focuses on aligning hardware capabilities with real-world operational requirements rather than simply maximizing compute performance.

“Edge AI deployment starts with understanding industry requirements, not selecting compute performance in isolation,” Chang said. “By working closely with Intel, we focus on building edge AI platforms that map real operational needs—such as latency, reliability and lifecycle stability—to practical system architectures.”

A Broader Shift in Industrial AI

DFI’s announcements highlight a broader transformation happening across industrial AI markets.

Early edge AI deployments often relied on experimental hardware or specialized accelerators designed for narrow use cases.

Today, industrial operators are increasingly demanding standardized platforms that can support multiple workloads—AI inference, real-time control, networking, and security—within a single edge computing architecture.

That shift is helping accelerate adoption across sectors including manufacturing automation, defense systems, medical imaging, and smart infrastructure.

By positioning its new portfolio as a scalable edge computing foundation rather than a collection of single-purpose systems, DFI is aiming to capture that next phase of industrial AI growth.

And if the strategy works, the company’s edge platforms could become a core building block for the next generation of AI-powered machines operating outside the data center.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

Global footwear and accessories retailer ALDO Group is consolidating its digital marketing strategy—and it’s handing the keys to P3 Media. The company has named the Shopify-focused agency its digital marketing partner for the entire ALDO portfolio, including ALDO, Sperry, G.H.Bass, and Call It Spring.

The move signals a deeper push into performance marketing and digital commerce as the retailer manages an increasingly complex ecosystem spanning ecommerce, marketplaces, and thousands of physical stores worldwide.

A Global Digital Overhaul

ALDO Group has long positioned itself as an omnichannel retail innovator, blending brick-and-mortar retail with robust ecommerce operations. But as digital retail evolves—and performance marketing grows more data-driven—the company is aiming to tighten its media strategy across brands and markets.

P3 Media’s mandate: unify media buying, streamline campaign execution, and build a scalable digital growth engine that works across ALDO’s global portfolio.

In practice, that means aligning paid media, creative, data analytics, and AI-powered optimization under a single strategy rather than fragmented campaigns by brand or region.

The goal is straightforward but ambitious: accelerate digital revenue while maintaining consistent brand performance worldwide.

“ALDO Group operates at the forefront of digital retail, managing a highly complex global commerce ecosystem across multiple brands and markets,” said Monica Provenza, Head of Digital Commerce at ALDO Group. “At this inflection point in digital commerce technology, it was critical to partner with an agency that can operate as a true extension of our team while bringing every tool necessary to help us achieve our ambitious growth vision.”

Why P3 Media Won the Pitch

The partnership follows a competitive pitch process in which ALDO evaluated potential agencies on media expertise, responsiveness, strategic vision, and innovation capabilities.

P3 Media ultimately secured the contract by positioning itself as a hybrid partner: part media agency, part ecommerce growth consultancy.

The firm is best known as a Shopify Platinum Partner, a designation reserved for agencies with deep expertise in Shopify’s enterprise commerce platform. Its client work typically blends performance marketing, data science, and AI-driven optimization—an increasingly common formula among digital commerce agencies trying to differentiate beyond basic media buying.

For ALDO, that blend of commerce and marketing expertise appears to have been decisive.

“P3 demonstrated the strategic depth, technical fluency, and collaborative mindset we were looking for,” Provenza said.

A Portfolio Play

Unlike many agency appointments that focus on a single brand, this deal spans ALDO Group’s entire footwear portfolio.

That includes:

• ALDO, the company’s flagship global fashion footwear brand

• Sperry, known for boat shoes and heritage lifestyle products

• G.H.Bass, a historic American footwear label

• Call It Spring, a younger, trend-driven brand aimed at Gen Z shoppers

Managing performance marketing across four distinct brand identities—and multiple regions—adds a layer of complexity.

Each brand serves different audiences, price tiers, and geographic markets. Aligning them under a single performance marketing framework requires balancing centralized data with localized creative strategies.

That’s precisely where ALDO expects P3 Media to deliver.

The AI Factor

Another notable element of the partnership is the emphasis on AI-driven marketing.

Retailers increasingly rely on machine learning for tasks like audience targeting, campaign optimization, predictive merchandising, and customer lifetime value modeling.

Agencies, meanwhile, are racing to build AI into their marketing stacks to stay competitive.

P3 Media says it plans to combine its AI capabilities with media and creative strategy to support ALDO’s digital expansion.

“It’s an honor to partner with ALDO Group and support such an iconic portfolio of brands,” said Aanarav Sareen, CEO and co-founder of P3 Media.

David Wagoner, the agency’s CMO and co-founder, emphasized the collaborative nature of the partnership.

“From the outset, the ALDO team has communicated a clear and compelling vision for where they want to go,” Wagoner said. “We’re excited to align our media, data, creative, and AI capabilities around that vision and help bring their next chapter of digital marketing to life.”

Why This Matters for Retail Marketing

ALDO’s agency consolidation reflects a broader shift happening across retail.

Brands with complex global footprints are increasingly moving away from fragmented marketing stacks—multiple agencies, regional media buyers, disconnected analytics platforms—and toward unified growth partners.

The reasons are both strategic and practical:

• Performance marketing has become highly data-intensive

• AI-driven optimization requires centralized datasets

• Ecommerce growth demands tight integration between media and commerce platforms

Retailers also face rising acquisition costs across platforms like Google, Meta, and TikTok, making optimization and efficiency critical.

By consolidating media execution under one agency partner, brands aim to improve attribution, streamline decision-making, and scale campaigns more effectively.

The Bigger Commerce Strategy

For ALDO Group, the move fits into a broader digital transformation effort underway across the fashion retail industry.

Footwear brands are increasingly investing in:

• Direct-to-consumer ecommerce

• Marketplace expansion

• Omnichannel fulfillment

• Data-driven marketing strategies

Retailers that once relied heavily on physical stores are now treating digital channels as their primary growth engine.

ALDO already operates thousands of retail locations globally, but its ecommerce presence continues to expand across multiple platforms and markets.

Partnering with a Shopify-specialized agency suggests the company intends to deepen its commerce integration with marketing performance—something many fashion brands are now prioritizing.

What Comes Next

The immediate focus for P3 Media will likely involve consolidating campaign infrastructure and optimizing media performance across ALDO’s global operations.

Longer term, the partnership could extend into broader areas such as AI-powered personalization, creative automation, and deeper integration between marketing and commerce analytics.

For ALDO, the outcome will be measured in a familiar metric: digital growth.

For the agency world, the deal is another sign that enterprise retailers increasingly want marketing partners capable of blending technology, commerce expertise, and performance marketing under one roof.

In the modern retail playbook, media buying alone no longer cuts it.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

Qualified is seeing rapid adoption as organizations accelerate their move to full-funnel agentic marketing using Piper, the #1 AI SDR Agent. In an era where buyers expect instant, always-on engagement, companies are moving beyond traditional marketing automation, embracing platforms that can autonomously manage pipeline and revenue outcomes.

In the last year, Qualified saw a 145% increase in new customers on their Agentic Marketing Platform, which powers Piper the AI SDR Agent. New clients include Dun & Bradstreet, Epson, and Sprout Social, while existing customers like Blackbaud and LogicMonitor expanded usage, underscoring strong demand for AI-driven B2B pipeline automation.

Agentic Marketing is Transforming the Inbound Funnel

The traditional marketing funnel is straining under too many leads, too little follow-up, and too many missed opportunities. Agentic marketing addresses this by allowing one intelligent agent — Piper — to autonomously engage, qualify, and advance buyers at every stage of the funnel. From website visits to email nurture sequences to conversions, Piper replaces legacy marketing automation platforms reliant on manual rules and prescriptive workflows.

“After adopting Piper the AI SDR Agent, we’ve increased meetings booked by 68% and conversations by 118%,” said Troy O’Bryan, Senior VP, Global Growth Marketing, Blackbaud. “Piper works around the clock engaging potential buyers, enabling our team to focus on higher-value human-to-human conversations.”

Consistent Innovation Drives Adoption

Qualified continues to innovate with PiperX, which introduces multi-stage autonomy, multi-agent infrastructure, and multi-modal interactions. Buyers can engage via text, voice, or video, while Piper determines the next best action at every step. The platform unifies workflows, eliminates disjointed tools, and accelerates pipeline velocity — a key differentiator for organizations adopting agentic marketing at scale.

“Qualified is committed to the next generation of agentic capabilities, enabling teams to expand outreach, reduce friction, and convert buyers faster than ever,” said Maura Rivera, CMO of Qualified.

Leading the Agentic Marketing Movement

As AI SDR agents take center stage in modern go-to-market strategies, Piper has become the foundational platform for full-funnel agentic marketing. Companies aren’t merely experimenting with AI — they’re rebuilding GTM motions around autonomous agents, with Qualified at the forefront of this shift.

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UpKeep, the mobile-first Asset Operations Management platform, has introduced UpKeep Studio, a no-code app platform that allows maintenance and operations teams to build, install, and run custom applications directly inside their CMMS. The goal: eliminate spreadsheets, standalone tools, and fragile integrations that still dominate maintenance workflows.

“Maintenance is a $700 billion industry, and most of it still runs on spreadsheets,” said Ryan Chan, CEO and founder of UpKeep. “Studio changes that. Teams can describe what they need in plain language and have a working app in minutes, built on their real data and embedded right where they already work.”

Three Paths to Custom Apps

UpKeep Studio meets teams at every level of technical expertise:

1. App Marketplace – Browse a curated catalog of ready-to-use apps for common maintenance workflows. Apps require no configuration and run on UpKeep infrastructure with SOC 2 compliant security.

2. AI App Builder – A chat-based interface where users describe the app in plain language and Studio builds it. Apps have full read/write access to the UpKeep API, ensuring they work with real data.

3. Studio Concierge – For complex operations, organizations can work directly with a Forward Deployed Engineer to build tailored apps, unlock custom data types, and replace standalone tools.

“For decades, maintenance teams have been told to adapt their workflows to fit software,” said Nachiket Shiralkar, UpKeep CTO. “Studio flips that. We’re putting the power of AI directly in the hands of the technicians, reliability engineers, and plant managers who live this work every day.”

30+ Apps Available at Launch

UpKeep Studio launches with a variety of apps designed for real maintenance scenarios:

• Asset Replacement Prioritization – Determines which assets to repair or replace based on maintenance costs

• Safety Hazard Tracker – Monitors and escalates safety risks before they become serious incidents

• Inspection Failure Follow-Up Manager – Tracks failed inspection items across work orders

• Impact Dashboard – Role-based KPI dashboards showing backlog, completion rates, and more

• IFTA Compliance Reporter – Prepares fleet compliance reports for mileage, fuel, and MPG

Studio Partner Program

UpKeep is also opening the Studio Partner Program, inviting software vendors, system integrators, and consultants to build and distribute apps to its user base of over 400,000 maintenance professionals in 60+ countries. Partners gain access to the App Builder, full API, and marketplace distribution, while UpKeep manages hosting, security, and delivery.

Availability and Pricing

UpKeep Studio is available now:

• App Marketplace – Included on Premium plans and above

• AI App Builder – Available on Professional plans and above

• Studio Concierge – Paid add-on starting at $3,000/month

By embedding custom apps directly into the CMMS, UpKeep Studio aims to transform maintenance operations, giving teams the flexibility to automate, track, and optimize workflows without relying on external tools or coding expertise.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

Launch Labs, a rapidly growing marketing technology and data solutions provider specializing in identity resolution, audience activation, and marketing attribution, has been acquired by Banyan Software, a buy-and-hold-for-life acquirer of mission-critical software businesses.

The acquisition comes after Launch Labs posted 614% three-year revenue growth and ranked in the top 14% of the 2025 Inc. 5000 list, claiming the #2 spot in the Durham–Chapel Hill region. The move provides Launch Labs with strategic resources, capital support, and long-term stability while allowing it to continue operating independently under its existing leadership team.

A Platform Built for Measurable Marketing Impact

“From day one, we have focused on building solutions that deliver measurable impact, helping organizations activate and measure growth with confidence,” said Garrett Roach, Founder and CEO of Launch Labs. “Partnering with Banyan gives us the support to accelerate product innovation and expand our impact while staying true to our mission and culture.”

Launch Labs provides first-party data solutions that help digital marketing agencies, media companies, and automotive enterprises better understand audiences, engage with them more effectively, and measure marketing performance with precision. By combining advanced identity resolution, actionable data intelligence, audience activation, and attribution, Launch Labs has established itself as a trusted partner for performance-driven growth.

“Launch Labs has built a platform that translates complex audience data into clear, measurable action,” said Tristan Jordan, Operating Partner at Banyan Software. “Garrett and his team have the technical foundation and ambition to shape that future, and we’re proud to support them for the long term.”

Vertical Focus and Independent Operation

The company will continue to operate from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with its leadership team intact, ensuring continuity for employees, partners, and customers. The acquisition reinforces Banyan’s strategy of investing in high-performing vertical software businesses while strengthening Launch Labs’ position as a trusted partner for agencies, media companies, and automotive clients.

With Banyan’s backing, Launch Labs is positioned to accelerate innovation in identity resolution and audience activation, helping organizations identify high-intent audiences, optimize engagement, and measure marketing performance across multiple channels.

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Comscore (NASDAQ: SCOR) and Yahoo DSP have teamed up to bring linear TV intelligence into Connected TV (CTV) advertising for political campaigns with the launch of Proximic Political Audiences. This first-to-market collaboration aims to help agencies and campaigns improve voter targeting and cross-screen coordination ahead of the 2026 House, Senate, and Gubernatorial races.

The partnership enables leading political activation partners — including MiQ’s political division — to operationalize Proximic Political Audiences at scale across premium CTV inventory. By aligning CTV targeting with verified linear TV exposure, campaigns can maximize incremental reach and ensure ad dollars drive measurable impact across screens.

“Political campaigns can’t afford to treat linear and streaming as separate worlds,” said Rachel Gantz, Managing Director, Proximic by Comscore. “By bringing linear exposure data into streaming, Proximic and Yahoo are helping advertisers connect the dots across screens, turning fragmented impressions into coordinated, more effective voter reach.”

CTV has emerged as a critical touchpoint for political campaigns, but fragmented media strategies have historically limited efficiency. This collaboration leverages Comscore’s local market measurement, Proximic’s activation capabilities, and Yahoo DSP’s scaled platform to provide advertisers with an actionable, cross-platform view of voter exposure.

“Today’s voters are seeing messages everywhere, but connecting those touchpoints is what drives real impact,” said Danny Dikovsky, Head of Independent Agency Sales, Yahoo DSP. “Comscore’s depth in local TV measurement paired with Yahoo ConnectID gives campaigns unmatched precision and efficiency in streaming political advertising.”

MiQ highlights the practical benefits for campaigns: “CTV is a critical part of a holistic media strategy,” said Jesse Contario, Regional VP, Southeast and Political, MiQ. “Supported by Proximic and Yahoo, we help clients optimize CTV performance and understand true voter impact.”

Proximic Political Audiences are available for both PAC and candidate campaigns, measured at the local market level, enabling precise targeting, accountability, and optimized spend.

As political advertising ramps up for 2026, this partnership represents a pivotal shift in cross-platform campaign strategy, merging traditional linear TV data with streaming insights to deliver smarter, more measurable CTV campaigns.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.