Washington, D.C.-based customer relationship management (CRM) software startup, Contactually, has raised $8 million in venture capital investment. The round was co-led by Rally Ventures and Grotech Ventures. It also included participation from Correlation Ventures and return backers Point Nine Capital, Middleland Capital, Bull City Venture Partners and real estate guru Tom Ferry.
The fresh raise brings Contactually up to $12 million in private funding to date. With the move, Grotech Ventures' general partner Don Rainey and Rally Ventures' general partner Jeff Hinck will join Contactually's board. The $8 million will be used to develop new products and to hire new employees across marketing, sales, customer service and engineering, including data science.
Between 2013 and July of 2015, the customer relations management software creator grew from 16 employees to more than 50 full-time professionals. By year's end, Contactually expects to add about 20 more people to its team, co-founder Tony Cappaert told DC Inno in a previous interview.
keeping a high bar
CEO/co-founder Zvi Band said that he hopes to capitalize on the momentum his business has experienced, while it will also be important to "keep a high bar" as the company continues to hire and scale. Band added that he believes CRM will in the future become the largest IT expenditure for most enterprise clients and that within this changing tech landscape there also exists real opportunity. He hopes to position Contactually to take advantage of the evolving market.
Though Contactually is sometimes compared to CRM godfather, Salesforce, the company's platform is much more referral-centric, Band told DC Inno. In addition, the product is more focused on helping users make smart communication decisions with recorded contacts—providing a data analytics-enabled business intelligence framework for everyday outreach. In essence, the software allows users to better organize, manage and connect with individuals who then may lead directly to business deals.
Contactually, which employs a SaaS subscription sales model, is used by a number of sales representatives and businesses in the finance, real estate and retail sectors, among other industries. In January, Contactually increased the prices of their software suite from $40 to $60 per month, bringing what Band described as an emphasis on product and customer experience features.
