AAA Goldman floats Zendesk to $60m

Goldman floats Zendesk to $60m

Cloud-based customer service provider Zendesk has raised of $60m, including a $45m equity round led by venture firm Redpoint Ventures with participation from Goldman Sachs.

The round was joined by venture firms GGV Capital  and Index Ventures. Also joining in the round were existing investors private equity firm Matrix Partners, investment firm Benchmark Capital, and venture firm Charles River Ventures.

The San Francisco-based firm also secured a $15m facility through US-based bank Silicon Valley Bank.

Mikkel Svane, chief executive officer and Zendesk founder, told news provider TechCrunch that an initial public offering is the firm’s current goal.

The latest funding brings the total venture funding for Zendesk to $85.5m. Charles River was the sole participant in the firm’s series A round, which was for an undisclosed sum in May 2009. CRV also participated in Zendesk’s series B round, which was led by Benchmark Capital, in August 2009 for $6m. Both firms participated in the series C, held in December 2010, which landed $19m for Zendesk and was led by Matrix Partners.

Since the series C, monthly recurring revenues at Zendesk have grown nearly 500%, and has in excess of 20,000 customers, most of them SMEs.

The firm also raised $500k as seed funding from investor Christoph Janz in 2008.

“This new funding allows us to invest aggressively in global expansion, top-notchtalent, and technology innovation,” said Mikkel Svane. “Today’s introduction of the ‘new Zendesk’ demonstrates how we are changing the face of customer service forever.”

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