Social media and customer management software company Sprinklr has raised a $105 million funding round at a valuation of over $1.8 billion, the company announced Wednesday morning.
The round, which brings the company’s total funding to $239 million, was led by Singapore-based investment firm Temasek. Wellington Management Company LLP and EDBI also participated, along with Sprinklr’s existing investors.
Sprinklr’s software is designed to help companies manage every aspect of their activity on social media, from listening to consumer feedback to planning, publishing and measuring the content they post to a growing array of digital platforms.
According to CEO Ragy Thomas, Sprinklr will use the money to grow Sprinklr’s software platform, and potentially to fund future acquisitions.
“We have ambitious growth numbers; we think we are sitting on incredible growth opportunity, and have the potential to build the next large enterprise software company,” Mr. Thomas said.
The company has made three acquisitions in the past 13 months, including social visualization company Postano, audience segmentation firm Booshaka and analytics company NewBrand.
Mr. Thomas said Sprinklr will continue to make acquisitions if and when suitable opportunities present themselves. As the market for social media marketing software matures, he expects those opportunities to continue to arise. According to some industry observers, it’s getting harder for marketing and advertising technology companies to raise money.
“We’re seeing first-generation social companies hitting their natural growth limit. This funding round gives us the capital to be opportunistic as we see strategic fits,” Mr. Thomas said.
Sprinklr’s technology now hooks into 23 social networks and platforms and is used by over 1200 brands including Nike, McDonald’s, Microsoft, P&G and Samsung, the company said.
According to Mr. Thomas, companies are increasingly seeing “customer experience management” through social media as a competitive advantage.
Sprinklr said it eclipsed $100 million in annual revenue in 2015, and that its $1.83 billion valuation is a reflection of its growth and performance.
Mr. Thomas said taking the company public through an initial public offering is not currently “top of mind.”
[source:- The Wall Street Journal]
