Despite announcing his product software company’s $100 million Series E round yesterday, Pendo CEO Todd Olson thinks nothing has really changed. “It’s really business as usual at Pendo after [this funding] news,” he tells Hypepotamus. “The same focus on our customers and employees around the world, but more fuel in the tank to grow.”
Sapphire Ventures led the round, with participation from existing investors and new investors General Atlantic and Tiger Global. Pendo has now raised $206 million total. As a result of this round, Pendo has officially reached a $1 billion evaluation.
“To me, unicorn status is not necessarily something to celebrate—it means we have a lot more work to do,” Olson says. “That said, it is a milestone for our company and for this region.”
“We have a lot of momentum right now as a business,” Olson continued. “We are following the “triple, triple, double, double, double” framework for growth created by our investor Neeraj Agrawal of Battery Ventures. We tripled ARR for two years and are now in our second double. We just keep hitting our numbers.”
Olson shares that the team will leverage the funds to accelerate global expansion. This past February, Pendo opened an office in London to serve as their EMEA headquarters. They will invest in additional staff for sales, marketing, customer success, product development, and support teams.
“We may make additional acquisitions if they fit our vision and customers’ demand,” he says. The company made its second acquisition earlier this year of the UK-based Receptive.io.
Pendo’s cloud-based platform helps product teams ask the right questions during customer boarding and stay in sync with what they want, why they keep coming back, or in some cases, what drives them away. That feedback can be used for additional product features, tracking usage, and more.
“Pendo has a huge market opportunity. Virtually every company is becoming a software company, from hotels and banks to retailers and government. They all want to understand how people use their web and mobile applications, and how they can improve those digital experiences,” Olson says.
The company’s bookings grew 108 percent in the second quarter year over year. It now serves over 1,200 customers including Verizon, ADP, Cardinal Health, RE/MAX, LabCorp, OpenTable, Salesforce, and others.
“As our global economy continues to transform digitally, product led companies have a clear strategic advantage. Over the last few years, software for product teams has emerged as an important new category, and Pendo as a clear leader,” said Rajeev Dham, managing director at Sapphire Ventures and Pendo board member, in a statement.
Pendo currently has 375 employees and will grow to 560 by the end of 2020.
“I hope we can inspire more companies to think big, and more investors to put dollars into local companies with that mindset. For Pendo, it means more validation for the opportunity ahead,” says Olson.
The company now has offices in Raleigh, New York City, San Francisco, London, Sheffield, United Kingdom, and Tel Aviv.
