First Ascent and Felicitas co-lead $38.4m growth financing of DCX

• First Ascent Ventures and Felicitas Global Partners led the round
• Other investors were Metropolitan Partners Group and Liam Lynch
• DCX’s platform leverages real-time data to increase acquisition and retention rates while decreasing marketing spend for publishers and membership-based organizations

DCX, a Toronto-based software-as-a-service platform for companies with a subscription business model, has collected $38.4 million in financing.

First Ascent Ventures and Felicitas Global Partners led the round. Additional funding was provided by Metropolitan Partners Group and Liam Lynch.

DCX’s platform leverages real-time data to increase acquisition and retention rates while decreasing marketing spend for publishers and membership-based organizations. It enables data-driven transformations for brands that often have sophisticated requirements for customer acquisition and retention, reporting and customer service. DCX integrates seamlessly with third-party applications and fulfillment providers.

DCX has scaled clients by a factor of 10 in the past 18 months, adding new customers and channel partners across North America, the company said.

“Numerous industries that relied on legacy mainframe-based technology—costly and rigid—have been disrupted by cloud-based systems like Darwin,” said Richard Black, co-founder and managing partner of First Ascent Ventures, in a statement. “This partnership will ensure that Darwin’s cloud-based technology will replace the legacy mainframe-based technology still used in the subscription economy.”

Founded in 2015 by Richard Black and Tony van Marken, Toronto-based First Ascent invests in early-stage, emerging and growth-oriented enterprise software companies in the information technology sector.

Headquartered in Pasadena, California, Felicitas is an alternatives investment firm that manages portfolios of secondaries, private credit and private equity investments..