F
Formation
Formation | AI-Powered Personalization Marketing
About Formation
Formation operates as a specialized enterprise software provider, focusing on AI-driven marketing personalization. The firm was originally spun off from Boston Consulting Group's (BCG) corporate innovation arm, BCG Digital Ventures, in 2015. In August 2022, in a strategic move to enhance its technology and AI software capabilities, BCG fully acquired the San Francisco-based company.
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The company was co-founded by Christian Selchau-Hansen, who also served as its CEO. His background includes over two decades in the technology sector, with significant product and leadership roles at data-centric companies like Square and Zynga. Prior to founding Formation, Selchau-Hansen was a Partner and Managing Director at BCG Digital Ventures, where he advised large corporations and incubated new startups, an experience that directly informed the creation of Formation. He holds an MBA from The Wharton School and bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering and economics from Rice University.
Formation's core business revolves around its proprietary software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, which enables large-scale, one-to-one personalization for enterprise clients. The platform leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze first-party customer data, allowing brands to automate the creation and delivery of millions of individualized offers. It continuously learns from customer interactions across both digital and physical channels to refine and optimize subsequent offers, thereby increasing their effectiveness. This dynamic offer optimization is designed for marketing teams in sectors such as retail, grocery, travel, and quick-service restaurants (QSR). By enabling hyper-personalized customer experiences, the company helps its clients drive incremental revenue, which has reportedly surpassed $2 billion, and enhance customer lifetime value. Following the acquisition, Formation became part of BCG X, the consultancy's tech-build and design business unit, to further scale its vision of personalized commerce.
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Funding history
Company financing events and reported valuations.
| Deal type | Date | Amount | Valuation | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACQUISITION✓Exit | Aug 2022 | $0 | — | Boston Consulting Group | ↗ |
| SERIES A✓Equity / VC | Jul 2016 | $30M | $120M | BCG Digital Ventures | ↗ |
Growth signals
Latest recorded traffic for Formation is 150 monthly website visits, down 74.6% over the last three months. Formation's team declined 4.8% over the past year.
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Investors
From Dealroom's funding and investor records, grouped by the round each investor first entered.
Series A1 investor entered at this stage
BCG Digital Ventures
Other known investors1 additional known investor
Boston Consulting Group
Source: Dealroom Talent Intelligence.
Global footprint
team presence
Market sentiment
An AI-synthesised read of the highest-engagement posts about Formation on X, ranked by likes and reposts, corporate channels excluded.
Reading the room on X — pulling top posts and synthesizing themes…
Source: X recent search ranked by engagement (likes + retweets) · Synthesis by Claude · Cached for 1 hour
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