Klaviyo Raises $320 Million in Series D Funding Following Surge in Demand for Data and Marketing Automation Platform
Financing brings valuation to over $9 billion, comes only six months after its Series C
BOSTON, May 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Klaviyo, a leading customer data and marketing automation platform, today announced that it has raised a $320 million Series D round of funding.
The round was led by new investor Sands Capital. Other new investors include Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley), Whale Rock Capital Management, ClearBridge Investments, Lone Pine Capital, Owl Rock Capital, Glynn Capital, and Keith Block (former co-CEO of Salesforce), with participation from existing investors Accel and Summit Partners. Following the company's $200 million Series C financing in November 2020, this new financing valued the company at $9.15 billion on a pre-money basis and brings Klaviyo's total funding to date to over $675 million.
Klaviyo's platform provides powerful data analytics that enable online businesses to develop and nurture one-to-one relationships with their customers—at internet scale. By applying AI and machine learning to pull in customer data, the platform generates audience insights and automates and customizes relevant communications, advertising and marketing campaigns. For further ease of use, Klaviyo's software integrates with leading ecommerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, Stripe, and WooCommerce.
From day one, Klaviyo has focused on marketing, data and messaging to give people and businesses ownership and agency over their communication and relationship with their customers. As the company has expanded its offerings to include SMS and benchmarking, the platform now acts as the infrastructure a business or organization needs to deliver personalized experiences at scale through software -- without needing to rely on big tech players and marketplaces.
"The bill of goods that's being sold is that you need third-party data and third-party infrastructure to be successful, and that's simply not true," said Andrew Białecki, co-founder and CEO of Klaviyo. "There's a different way to grow, where you can be an independently successful business without relying on the big ad platforms and marketplaces."
"Email and SMS are the most direct channels there are," continued Bialecki. "We believe that at the end of the day, owning relationships with consumers will help businesses become closer to their customers, more durable, and more profitable. And that's not only a better way of doing business -- it's the next era of digital relationships. The next 20 years will be defined by owned relationships -- not third parties."
Klaviyo's customer base doubled over the past 12 months and the company now serves over 70,000 paying customers, a more than 110% increase from 2019 -- ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, in more than 120 countries.
Klaviyo plans to use the latest funding to further its growth through product development, increased marketing and sales, hiring, and expansion into new international regions and verticals. The company has more than doubled its employee count in the past year to 800 and plans to hire 500 more employees this year. The funding also allows the company more flexibility to evaluate other opportunities that align with its mission and vision for the future.
"Klaviyo has become the standard for how many online businesses are interacting with their customers, empowering an all-around better way of doing business and redefining what it takes for them to achieve independent success," said Michael Clarke, Managing Director at Sands Capital. "We are extremely excited to start a long-term partnership with the team at Klaviyo as they further grow their powerful, yet easy to use software platform that customers love."
About Klaviyo
Klaviyo is a world-leading marketing automation platform dedicated to accelerating revenue and customer connection for online businesses. Klaviyo makes it easy to store, access, analyze and use transactional and behavioral data to power highly-targeted customer and prospect communications. The company's hybrid customer-data and marketing-platform model allows companies to grow by fostering direct relationships with customers, without giving up their valuable data to popular big-tech ad platforms. Over 265,000 innovative companies like Unilever, Custom Ink, Living Proof and Huckberry sell more with Klaviyo. Learn more at www.klaviyo.com.
SOURCE Klaviyo
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