Crosshatch, a new tech startup, wants you to BYOP, “Bring Your Own Personalization.” (Note: This cringeworthy phrase was created by us, Crosshatch had nothing to do with it.)
Last week, Crosshatch, which describes itself as “the identity layer for personalization,” announced it raised $2.7 million in seed funding and is now available in public beta. The company’s tech is designed to improve how people interact with digital apps and services by allowing them to connect a profile of aggregated preferences and data directly to them, while prioritizing privacy.
As outlined on Crosshatch’s website, the company provides “the full picture of [a] user’s journey across applications” and is a tool for “safely personalizing user experiences with context users share.”
For example, if Violet is searching for a hotel in Paris on TripAdvisor, she can choose to share her data from Gmail, TikTok, Google Maps, or any other Crosshatch-connected service, directly with TripAdvisor. By doing so, Violet can get a more personalized in-app experience, including recommendations for Paris hotels tailored to who she is. Data points like spending, past hotel and flight bookings, and even yoga class preferences can be used to enhance that personalization.
“Our digital lives are fragmented across numerous apps and services,” said Soren Larson, CEO and co-founder of Crosshatch. According to Larson, who spoke to AdTechRadar about the launch, the company’s mission is to streamline personalization across platforms in a privacy-compliant way for the company, and in a user-friendly way for the consumer. This “feels unambiguously pro-user,” says Larson.
Crosshatch offers app developers a personalization API that can be integrated with 4 lines of code, according to Larson. The platform also operates like a data clean room, he says, connecting apps to user data and only allowing access to data relevant for specific requests. Larson told AdTechRadar the ease of use has made it attractive to startups as well larger, privacy-minded companies, and they have several beta tests in-progress.
Why This Matters:
So, is this adtech? Kind of. It’s bigger than that, as the tech works across the app experience. However, it can apply to ads and feels a little like dynamic optimization and contextual blended together.
Larson explained that developers can use Crosshatch’s API to integrate linked user data to steer components of ads, like copy and image options. This would allow for more personalized experiences that better match user preferences, in turn, increasing their relevance and performance. “Developers can add the Crosshatch Link and invite users to safely link their data to turn on hyper-personalized experiences,” says Larson.
Crosshatch is also putting control of digital personalization — for ads and beyond — more directly into users’ hands to manage, which is increasingly important as privacy regulations continue to grow. And, unlike some other examples of this, the added control seems more empowering for the end-user, not onerous.
Experts React:
Steven Liss, CEO of OpenAds.AI, a Gen AI adtech company, said Crosshatch, with the way it allows for identity and personalization, facilitates the “authenticated internet” and “maximizes the benefits of AI (personalization),” while mitigating “its downsides (differentiating human content from AI).”
Our Take:
Crosshatch’s tech is refreshing because it puts users at the center of personalization. In most advertising today, personalization is something “done to you.” It’s not necessarily driven by you. Crosshatch flips that model. This is intriguing as the climate around privacy gets thornier.
However, Crosshatch does face some obstacles, namely scaling the platform by integrating with enough services to ensure comprehensive data collection; and effectively communicating its value proposition, which can be complex due to the emphasis on user control. Still, the company’s approach seems well-positioned for the future of digital personalization, which is only growing more complicated, regulated, and challenging for companies to manage.
See more on the launch of Crosshatch here:
