US-based customer messaging software provider Podium closed a $125m series C round which was backed by human resources provider Recruit and GV, a venturing unit of internet conglomerate group Alphabet. The accelerator YC Combinator’s Continuity fund led the round, which was filled out by Sapphire Ventures, a venture capital firm spun off from software company SAP in addition to traditional VC firms IVP, Accel as well as growth equity firm Summit Partners and investment adviser Alkeon Capital. The series C round reportedly valued Podium at nearly $1.5bn. This latest funding will be used to launch a free, basic version of the company’s product which will allow clients to interact with customers entirely through messaging.
Founded in 2014, Podium has developed software tools enabling businesses to interact with their customers, receive feedback or close payments, having originally concentrated on a platform that helped them secure customer reviews. The company claims its tools are employed by some 45,000 businesses.
The company is part of the broader marketing and adtech space, which has received much attention from corporate venturers in recent years, as our GCV Analytics chart below illustrates. Over the past decade, there have been consistently over at least around 60 corporate-backed deals in this space every year, as the graph shows, and the peak was reached in 2014, with 92 rounds at an estimated total capital in them at $2.56bn.
