SAVO Raises $35 Million to Drive Global Leadership in Sales Productivity Software Solutions

CHICAGO, June 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- SAVO Group, the market leader in sales productivity solutions, has closed a $35 million venture funding round. Led by Goldman Sachs & Co, with the support of existing investors, Sterling Partners and SAP Ventures, this latest investment brings SAVO's total funding to-date to $84 million. This investment will be used to expand SAVO's global operations and further develop its comprehensive suite of sales and marketing applications. With this round of funding also comes the appointment of two new board members: Michael McGinn and Holger Staude from Goldman Sachs' Private Capital Investing group.

"Our solutions, which seamlessly integrate with various CRM systems, are enabling customers to break through traditional sales productivity barriers by delivering the most effective content and selling practices to individual salespeople, in real time via both traditional channels and mobile devices. By providing reps with solutions tailored to address daily productivity challenges, companies are able to drive more effective and predictable sales cycles, and generate greater adoption of other investments related to sales training, new product introduction and consistent message delivery," said Mark O'Connell, president and CEO of SAVO. "Goldman Sachs has a proven track record of funding growing market leaders and we're excited to work with them."

During the past five months, SAVO has maintained the strong momentum realized at the close of 2013. The company has continued aggressive growth in new customer signings, announced its acquisition of digital postcard technology company StoryQuest, Inc., and launched a number of new solutions – including Sales Onboarding Pro, Sales Process Pro, SAVO Inspire, CRM Opportunity Pro for Microsoft Dynamics CRM and a Professional Selling Bundle designed to ensure functionality and compliance during sales meetings. In addition, SAVO has been recognized with the following awards:

• Best in Biz Awards, North America – Silver; Enterprise Product of the Year – Software
• Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ – Fastest growing companies in North America
• Killer Content Awards – Interactive Content
• Mobile Star Enterprise Awards – Shining Star; Enterprise Mobile Collaboration & Presentation, Enterprise Mobile Field Sales & CRM, Enterprise Mobile Marketing and Success Story: Mobile Marketing
• Stevie Sales & Customer Service Awards – Silver; New Product & Service

"SAVO has consistently demonstrated excellent year-over-year growth and is executing ambitious plans to continue to serve the sales enablement industry," said Michael McGinn, managing director for Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing. "The company's solutions enable sales reps to be more efficient, effective and engaging, resulting in improved productivity, increased sales cycle predictability and most important of all, more closed deals. We look forward to seeing them execute their vision on a global scale."

About SAVO
Founded in 1999, SAVO enables its clients to drive sales productivity improvements through its on-demand sales enablement platform, which maximizes the sales team's ability to communicate value and differentiation in clear, consistent and compelling ways. Combining proven sales and marketing best practices with award-winning technology, SAVO addresses all aspects of the sales enablement challenge – spanning people, process, insight and technology. For more information, visit www.savogroup.com or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

About Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing
Private Capital Investing ("PCI") is part of Goldman Sachs' Investing and Lending segment. PCI focuses on making mezzanine debt and preferred equity investments in middle market companies with typical investments ranging from $20 million - $150 million. Contact: [email protected] 

About Sterling Partners
Sterling Partners is a private equity firm with a distinct point of view on how to build great companies. Founded in 1983, Sterling has invested billions of dollars, guided by the company's stated purpose, INSPIRED GROWTH (R), which describes Sterling's approach to buying differentiated businesses and growing them in inspired ways. Sterling focuses on investing growth capital in small and mid-market companies in industries with positive, long-term trends – education, healthcare, and business services. Sterling provides valuable support to the management teams of the companies in which the firm invests through a deep and dedicated team of operations and functional experts based in the firm's offices in Chicago, Baltimore and Miami.

About SAP Ventures
SAP Ventures, with more than US$1.4 billion under management, is an investment firm that seeks to partner with outstanding entrepreneurs and leading venture firms worldwide to build industry-leading businesses. SAP Ventures is an independent investment organization affiliated with SAP AG, the leading global enterprise software company. SAP Ventures leverages its relationship with SAP and its ecosystem for the benefit of its portfolio companies and underlying fund managers. SAP Ventures was founded in 1997 and has invested in more than 125 companies across five continents. For more information, please visit www.sapventures.com and follow us @SAP_Ventures.

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SOURCE SAVO Group