Reston, Va.-based Clarabridge has almost completed a $13.1 million funding round according to an SEC filing. The customer intelligence software platform has raised about $12.5 million of the offer.
The funding round may seem surprising after the $80 million round Clarabridge closed in 2013. And in an interview earlier this year, CEO Yuchun Lee, then newly appointed to the role, told me that the company had decided not to take in any more outside investment, as much because of not needing to supplement revenue as anything else. The new funding doesn't undermine what he said then, Lee told me this week.
"It's part of the plan that started even before I was the CEO. We didn't put out a press release or make a fuss because it's just cleaning up the balance sheet," Lee said. "It's not external funding, it's all internal, converting some debt into equity. It's a low single digit percentage of our balance sheet."
"When the stars are aligned, you can feel it."
Lee wouldn't say what the timeline for an IPO might be at this point, but described it as more a matter of timing than of ability. The paperwork for the $13.1 million is a step in making the company easier to run when its public, Lee said.
"We're definitely at a scale where we could go public. Our year to date revenue is above our original plan and we are executing well," Lee said. "When the stars are aligned, you can feel it. That's not yet."
