US-based sales and marketing bot developer Drift secured $32m on Tuesday in a series B round featuring marketing and sales software producer HubSpot.
General Catalyst led the round, which included fellow venture capital firms CRV and Sequoia Capital. HubSpot, General Catalyst and CRV invested in Drift’s $15m series A round in 2015 together with NextView Ventures, Founder Collective and angel investor Brian Shin.
Founded in 2016, Drift uses artificial intelligence to power a range of conversational chatbots capable of targeting specific groups of customers with tailored messages and actions through web or app messaging.
The company will use the series B money to expand its sales and marketing automation, and CEO David Cancel told VentureBeat earlier this month it will expand its service to include emails. Drift also plans to open a new office in San Francisco and expand its workforce by more than 100 in the next year.
Cancel said on Tuesday: “We live in an on-demand world with infinite choice, and yet we force potential customers to fill out forms and jump through hoops in order to talk to us.
“Buyers have all of the power today and place a premium on convenience and customer experience. Businesses need to adapt to this shift in order to thrive, and that is what we are focused on at Drift.”