Insider, the provider of a cross-channel CX platform based in Singapore, announced on March 7 that it had achieved unicorn status after obtaining $121 million in Series D funding. The company now carries a valuation of $1.2 billion.
The funding mega-round was led by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the Middle Eastern nation that invests predominantly in international markets, and within Qatar, outside the energy sector. Participating investors in the round included US-based Sequoia Capital, Riverwood Capital, and Endeavor Catalyst; Istanbul, Turkey-headquartered 212 and Esas Private Equity; and Wamda Capital from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The new funds will be used to enhance the company’s core technology, scale global sales and marketing investments, and speed up expansion. Insider is rolling out an aggressive global hiring plan and anticipates the creation of more than 2,000 jobs during the next four years, with an emphasis on hiring female engineers to fill hundreds of positions in research & development (R&D) and product development. Led by founder and CEO Hande Cilingir, Insider is one of only a handful of female-led software as a service (SaaS) providers in the world boasting unicorn status.
“We’ve been blitzscaling remarkably in the past three years and achieved 3X growth. In the same period, our global team grew by 300%, and our customer base continues to increase,” says Cilingir. “Following our aggressive expansion in Asia, Europe, and Latin America, we’ll carry this momentum in the U.S. market.”
Insider’s AI-powered platform brings together an extensive set of personalization capabilities with emerging messaging channels like WhatsApp, Facebook, RCS, and SMS. Connecting customer data across channels and systems in a unified platform, Insider can reveal customer interests and preferred touchpoints, predict future customer behavior, and deliver individualized and optimized CX at speed, the company says.
The Insider platform also enables digital marketers to drive growth across channels and throughout the funnel—from acquisition to activation, revenue, and retention (AARR)—generating positive conversion rate and return on investment (ROI), the company adds.
Mansoor bin Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud, CEO of QIA, the lead investor for the current funding round, praises Insider as the sort of technology innovator that the sovereign fund hopes to support. “Insider clearly stands out in the marketing technology ecosystem,” says Al-Mahmoud, “and its highly personalized results can provide value to both audiences and businesses.”
Pieter Kemps, principal at participating investor Sequoia Capital, says Insider has a winning playbook. “Companies that can deliver delight for their customers are the ones that win. And Insider is doing just that: using next-level individualization to help brands deliver delight to their customers. And without a doubt, this is the future of CX.”
Founded in 2012, Insider is staffed by more than 700 employees spanning 41 nationalities from 28 countries, and approximately 60% of the company’s top executives are women. The Insider platform is used by more than a thousand global enterprise brands—among them Samsung, The Gap, Santander Bank, Vodafone, Ikea, Mac Cosmetics, Virgin, Toyota, Singapore Airlines, and Estee Lauder.
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Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
