Tactile Unveils Personal Sync Platform For Professionals and Announces $11.2M from Accel Partners and Redpoint Ventures

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Launched today, Tactile makes user-centric applications, built upon its personal sync platform, that empower professionals in their work lives. Founder and CEO Chuck Ganapathi secured $11.2 million in Series A funding from Accel Partners and Redpoint Ventures to turn the traditional enterprise software model on its head. By putting the needs of the individual first and bridging information silos, Tactile aims to mirror the way professionals work. With an initial focus on salespeople, the company also introduced its first app, Tact, which syncs the data needed to be more effective and build stronger customer relationships.

According to Gartner, enterprise application software is a $142.8B market in 2014.[1]  Recognizing the shift toward user-centric tools and services, Gartner states, "Applications and data are king, and device selection is now a matter of personal choice, becoming increasingly disposable unlike the traditional-lived, corporate-controlled assets of the past. We are seeing the birth of the era of the personal cloud."[2]

Tactile is accelerating this transformation from conventional, database-centric software to serving the needs of end-users first. Its patent-pending personal sync platform is built for today's increasingly fragmented information, bringing together everything professionals need, everywhere they work.

The company's technology and approach is a natural fit for customer relationship management (CRM), which is notorious for low salesperson adoption. The company's first mobile app, Tact, syncs a sales professional's essential business data from email, calendars, tasks, contacts, LinkedIn, and Salesforce. With all this disparate information linked and available in one place, salespeople can better prepare for, capture and follow-up on their daily conversations, creating deeper relationships and ultimately, greater personal success. Further, with a simple swipe, important details can be synced back to the company, giving management the visibility they want.

"In my 18 years in enterprise software, I've never met an end-user who isn't frustrated by disconnected, company-mandated tools," said Ganapathi. "In our personal lives, we have come to expect everything -- photos, music, documents -- to be available everywhere and instantly up to date. Sync is the defining technology of this generation, and we are on a mission to bring its power to our work lives and deliver business applications that people love."

"From the start, we've been aligned with Chuck's vision to invert the top-down enterprise software industry model," said Kevin Efrusy, who led Accel's investment in Tactile. "With its people-first approach and groundbreaking technology, Tactile is taking a fresh look at an important market, and we are excited to join forces with Redpoint in helping Chuck and his team define a new category."  

Prior to launching Tactile, Ganapathi was SVP, Products at Salesforce.com and responsible for building the company's flagship Sales Cloud, Chatter, and Mobile products. Earlier in his career, he developed CRM products at Siebel Systems, helping the company transition from the client-server platform to the Web. Most recently, he served as entrepreneur-in-residence at Accel Partners, where he incubated the idea for Tactile.

Tact was recently featured by Apple as one of the "Best New Apps" on the App Store. It is free and available on iOS. To download Tact, please visit: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id544062479

To watch Tact in-action, please visit: http://youtu.be/OXT2iuzbCWo  (video)

For more information about Tactile, please visit: www.tactile.com

[1] Gartner, Inc. "Market Trends: Monetizing Gartner's Nexus of Forces in the Enterprise Software Markets," Tom Eid, 27 November 2013

[2] Gartner, Inc. "The New PC Era: The Personal Cloud," Stephen Kleynhans, 21 June 2013

About Tactile:

Founded in 2012 by former Salesforce.com executive Chuck Ganapathi, Tactile is on a mission to make the world a happier place to work, by creating tools that empower individuals and enrich companies. The company's personal sync platform connects business data from the systems and apps that professionals use every day and lets them act on it from anywhere. Tact, its first app built on this platform, is designed to give salespeople a new way to manage customer relationships by syncing their email, calendar, tasks, contacts, LinkedIn connections, and CRM history. Based in Redwood City, Calif., Tactile is a privately held company, backed by Accel Partners and Redpoint Ventures. For more information, visit www.tactile.com.

About Accel Partners:

Founded in 1983, and managing over $9.6 billion in capital, Accel Partners has a long history of partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class businesses.  Accel today invests globally using dedicated teams and market-specific strategies for local geographies, with offices in Palo Alto, California, New York City, London, and Bangalore, as well as in China via its partnership with IDG-Accel.

About Redpoint Ventures:

Since 1999, the Redpoint team has been partnering with visionary founders who create new markets or redefine existing ones. From the earliest stages, Redpoint partners have supported over 350 companies, 44 IPOs and 73 upside acquisitions. Industry-defining investments include HomeAway, Fortinet, Qihoo, Right Media, Heroku, Netflix, Tivo, Juniper, among many others. Today, Redpoint manages over $3.3 billion across multiple funds and invests in disruptive founders and companies at the seed, early and growth stages.

SOURCE Tactile