Amazon Veteran Named President Of Brightloom

Customer experience and engagement platform Brightloom announced two new executive team hires in a press release on Tuesday (Oct. 8). Ben Straley signs on as president and chief product officer, and Brian Zimmer joins as chief technology officer, the company said.

“I am thrilled that Ben and Brian are joining our executive team,” said Brightloom CEO Adam Brotman. “Their experience-building, world-class, data-driven digital ecosystems [are] a perfect fit for Brightloom and what we are building here. Their talents and experience scaling teams at Amazon, Starbucks and The Climate Corporation will also help us to accelerate the development and growth of Brightloom’s technology and products.”

Straley joins Brightloom from Amazon, and Zimmer has spent the past 10 years at The Climate Corporation.

Brightloom was formerly known as eatsa, and recently rebranded itself as an integrated digital platform for restaurants. The company is offering a complete end-to-end, cloud-based Software-as-a-Service platform, allowing any restaurant to provide its own mobile engagement, loyalty and omnichannel digital ordering offerings to its guests.

Along with the rebrand announcement, Starbucks revealed that it is granting Brightloom a software license to combine its existing technology assets with components of Starbucks’ proprietary and industry leading digital flywheel software. As part of the deal, Starbucks will take an equity stake in Brightloom, as well as a seat on the company’s board of directors.

In addition, Brightloom has closed a $30 million funding round led by Tao Capital Partners and Valor Equity Partners, along with Starbucks licensees, including Alshaya Group and Alsea. Brightloom will use the funds for technology development, including integrating Starbucks’ software into what will become a comprehensive technology suite.