– USA, WA – Apptentive, the leading enterprise SaaS software platform for mobile customer communications, today announced the completion of a $5.3M Series A fundraising round led by SurveyMonkey and Origin Ventures. The company’s previous investors, including Founders Co-op and Golden Venture Partners, also participated, along with the company’s founders. In addition, the company will be adding Damon Cronkey, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy for SurveyMonkey, to its Board. The company plans to use the funds to expand its suite of in-app customer communication tools and accelerate its sales, marketing and product development activities.
Apptentive co-founder and CEO Robi Ganguly said, “Mobile is rewriting the rules of customer engagement. It was clear to our team that SurveyMonkey shared our belief in the power of customer interaction and that their expertise in the market would provide us with unique advantages in delivering on our customers-first vision for mobile.” Ganguly added, “I view this as not only an investment, but more importantly the start of a very productive partnership.”
“As the first company that used technology to transform the way consumers gather feedback and current leader in the space, we believe it is very important to support this growing ecosystem,” said SurveyMonkey’s Cronkey. “We believe Apptentive will further change and innovate consumer feedback as companies look for mobile-specific solutions.”
In addition to SurveyMonkey’s lead investment in this round, the company will partner with Apptentive to provide technical and product interactions to benefit both companies’ customers, including Fortune 500 Enterprise brands.
Powering over 5 million in-app customer interactions a month, Apptentive’s tools are integrated into thousands of popular mobile applications. With a global consumer audience of more than 150 million people, the company’s tools are helping drive significant increases in mobile customer satisfaction and retention for numerous Fortune 500 companies. Apptentive’s proprietary “Love Score” app-assessment tool and research on app store review dynamics have assisted business leaders in their pursuit of improved mobile customer relations.
Apptentive’s early success supporting traditional retail and consumer brand applications attracted Origin Ventures, a Chicago-based VC firm with deep connections to many of the world’s most successful consumer companies, to participate in the Series A round as well. Brent Hill, partner at Origin Ventures said, “Engaging the mobile customer requires the best tools and data. We are excited to help an innovator like Apptentive drive customer engagement for a growing roster of leading marketers.”
About Apptentive
Apptentive was founded on the principle of “Customer Love” – that every company is in the business of earning customer loyalty and commitment, and that mobile communications have become the most efficient method of earning customer trust. The Apptentive SaaS platform provides the easiest tools for mobile app makers to communicate directly with their customers. Integrated into mobile apps for Urbanspoon, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Overstock.com, Concur, Allrecipes.com, and more than 100 other large enterprise clients, Apptentive’s software powers millions of mobile customer interactions every month. The company is based in Seattle, Washington.
About SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is the world’s leading online survey platform, with more than 2 million survey responses every day. SurveyMonkey has revolutionized the way people give and take feedback, making it accessible, easy and affordable for everyone. The company was founded in 1999 with a focus on helping people make better decisions, and has built technology based on over 10 years of experience in survey methodology and web development. Customers include 99% of the Fortune 500, academic institutions, organizations and neighborhood soccer leagues everywhere.
The company has over 450 employees globally, with headquarters in Palo Alto, CA.
About Origin Ventures
Founded in 1999 by Steve Miller and Bruce Barron, Origin Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm based in Chicago, IL. The firm is investing from Origin III, a $47M fund closed in January 2013. Previous investments include Grubhub, ifbyphone, Shoutlet, Ahalogy, and Bottlenose.
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