Digital experience startup FullStory Inc. is the latest Atlanta company to surpass a $1 billion valuation.
The startup, founded in 2014 by former Google engineers, reached the milestone after a $103 million Series D round. FullStory is the fourth Atlanta startup to hit unicorn status this year, a promising sign for the local innovation ecosystem.
Inside the deal: Permira, a global private equity firm based in Europe, led the round. Existing investors Kleiner Perkins, GV, Stripes, Dell Technologies Capital, Salesforce Ventures and Glynn Capital also participated. The $103 million round is much larger than FullStory’s previous raises, the highest of which was $32 million in April 2019. FullStory previously operated cash-flow positive and didn’t need to raise money, CEO Scott Voigt said, but he saw a market opportunity for rapid, international expansion. The Series D round brings FullStory’s valuation to $1.8 billion. It has more than $160 million in total investments.
About the company: FullStory tracks and analyzes what users do on a website to give the company better insights into the customers’ digital experiences. For example, FullStory can detect “rage clicks,” when a person repeatedly clicks their mouse on a specific part of the website in frustration. The startup uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to gather that data, which helps engineering, customer success and sales teams manage their digital products. FullStory has more than 3,100 customers --including Chipotle, Peloton and Fidelity -- in more than 60 countries.
The startup initially served small to mid-sized businesses but now also caters to enterprise businesses. About half of the company’s 300 employees are based in its Atlanta office at 1745 Peachtree Road, which was formerly an old Kroger. It also has offices in London and Australia. FullStory’s annual recurring revenue has grown 70%, and its employee count has been dramatically increasing the past few years. Atlanta Business Chronicle named FullStory the fastest-growing company in the marketing category and No. 28 in the Pacesetter Awards.
What’s next: FullStory is planning an international expansion and hiring spree with the funding round, Voigt said. Though the startup already has international customers, they’re able to provide better service with “boots on the ground” employees in the same time zones and regions as their customers. FullStory plans to start the expansion in Europe and build out its Australia office to serve parts of Asia. The startup is planning to double its employees in the next 18 months, about half of whom will be based in Atlanta, and invest in more research and development, Voigt said.
Why it matters: FullStory’s growth is another sign that Atlanta is emerging as a nationally recognized technology hub. It joins scheduling startup Calendly, sales engagement platform SalesLoft and crime surveillance startup Flock Safety as companies that surpassed $1 billion valuations in 2021. Atlanta usually only has one or two unicorn companies, tech leaders say. This number of successful, high-growth companies is an indicator of Atlanta’s strength in the tech sector.
Demand for FullStory’s digital analytics products increased during the pandemic because of the number of companies digitizing operations and the higher volume of consumers using online products, Voigt said. As more companies rely on e-commerce or digital touchpoints for customers, digital experience platforms could continue to see a rise in business.
What they’re saying: “That digital experience intelligence category is very much on the rise,” Voigt said. “We have an opportunity to be a truly standout company in the Atlanta market.”
