Pendo Raises $50 Million Series D Funding to Drive Geographic and Market Expansion

Led by Sapphire Ventures, funding round brings total raised to $106 million, the most venture capital raised by any software firm in North Carolina's Research Triangle in nearly two decades.

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Pendo

Sep 12, 2018, 06:00 ET

RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Pendo, creator of the leading product cloud for digital products and data-driven product teams, today announced $50 million in new venture capital investment, which will help fund the company's expansion in Europe and Asia; boost sales, marketing, and research and development; and continue its expansion into enterprise markets.

Led by Sapphire Ventures, which has partnered with dozens of category-leading growth technology companies, this round brings total funding to date to $106 million, the most venture capital raised by any software company in North Carolina's Research Triangle region in nearly two decades. New investors Geodesic Capital and FirstMark Capital, as well as existing investors Battery Ventures, Spark Capital, Meritech Capital and Contour Venture Partners, also participated in the round.

"We've established a solid presence in the B2B SaaS market by focusing on what product teams need to deliver digital products that delight users," said Todd Olson, CEO and co-founder of Pendo. "As Pendo has evolved, we've recognized that virtually every company is now in the software business. This funding will help us accelerate our growth within and well beyond SaaS, where Pendo becomes the preferred platform for product teams in any native digital enterprise, as well as traditional enterprises undergoing a digital transformation."

Pendo's explosive growth has been driven by the twin forces of a rising subscription economy dependent upon recurring revenue, and a shifting balance of power from digital service providers to end users. According to the 2017 Gartner report "Future of Experience: A Gartner Theme Insight Report," "The promise (and sometimes the reality) of technology has set expectations for every interaction that cannot be undone. Technology has, in essence, shifted power to the user. Understanding that shift is fundamental when thinking about the future of experience. It has touched everyone."

By enabling digital product teams to understand and guide their users, Pendo ensures businesses are better equipped to deliver software features and user experiences that delight customers. In turn, businesses are better equipped to grow a predictable business built upon strong loyalty and advocacy.

With its global enterprise network and expertise helping companies scale, Sapphire Ventures is primed to help Pendo expand its focus on industries like banking, insurance, manufacturing, education and logistics. The firm's recent exits include now-public companies DocuSign, MuleSoft, Alteryx and Nutanix. New investors joining Sapphire in the syndicate are Geodesic Capital, a growth stage venture capital fund which supports portfolio companies such as Tanium, Looker and Databricks as they expand into Asia, starting with Japan; and FirstMark Capital, a prominent New York-based firm with investments in Pinterest, InVision and Shopify.

"Sapphire's mission is to help build companies of consequence, and Pendo is certainly on track to achieve that distinction with its powerful platform used by individuals across functions," said Rajeev Dham, partner at Sapphire Ventures. "We see a massive opportunity for Pendo to help any business with digital services develop better products that foster superior user experiences, the ultimate differentiator in digital today. We're excited to partner with Todd and the world-class team at Pendo for this next stage of growth."

With a three-year CAGR of 289%, Pendo's revenue growth compares to the pre-IPO performance of companies like Salesforce, Workday and Hubspot. The company's growth is also tracking with the triple triple double double double (T2D3) methodology, a best-in-class measure for hyper-growth SaaS companies created by Battery Ventures' Neeraj Agrawal, a Pendo board member and lead investor in the Series A round.

Across its four global offices, Pendo currently employs 227 people, 45 of which were hired during the previous quarter. Pendo will continue to hire across all functions and geographies.

Source: Gartner, Inc., "Future of Experience: A Gartner Theme Insight Report", Ed Thompson et al, May 5, 2017.

About Pendo
Pendo is a product cloud that provides user insight, user guidance and user communication for digital product teams. With Pendo, these product teams can understand product usage, collect feedback, measure NPS, onboard users, and announce new features in app—all without requiring engineering resources. Founded in 2013 in the heart of Raleigh and backed by Battery Ventures, Spark Capital, Meritech Capital and Sapphire Ventures, Pendo has raised $106 million and counts more than 600 customers, including Zendesk, LexisNexis, Coupa, Gainsight, BMC, and Sprinklr. Pendo is also the producer of ProductCraft, a destination editorial site with insights by and for product leaders; and Pendomonium, a premier product conference. For more information, visit: www.pendo.io

About Sapphire Ventures
Sapphire Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on helping innovative technology companies become global category leaders. Leveraging nearly two decades of experience and an extensive global enterprise network, Sapphire Ventures invests capital, resources and expertise to enable its portfolio companies to scale rapidly. Whether entrepreneurs sell to businesses, consumers or both, Sapphire Ventures offers a powerful platform for business development and operational excellence to help them accelerate growth. With $2.5 billion under management via direct growth investments and early-stage fund investments, Sapphire Ventures is positioned to elevate companies to the global stage. For more information visit us at www.sapphireventures.com or follow us @sapphirevc.

SOURCE Pendo