The references for Influitive, the latest startup from Eloqua co-founder Mark Organ, include a who’s-who list of technology companies such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, LinkedIn, and Salesforce.
That’s fitting for a company dedicated to helping businesses scale the influence of word-of-mouth referrals. Its software creates a system that companies can use to reward brand advocates for social commentary that can be embedded into business-to-business marketing campaigns.
“We come at this from the perspective of being pipeline accelerators,” said Influitive founder and CEO Mark Organ.
In fact, five-year-old Influitive just signed the 250th customer for its software—bringing the total number of “advocates” on the platform to something around 20,000. By the time this article publishes, the Toronto-based company should surpass the 100-employee mark. These growth metrics have inspired $30.5 million in new funding led by Georgian Partners. The Series B round, disclosed Thursday morning, is earmarked primarily for geographic and product expansion.
“For a company this stage, this management team offers deep experience and operational sophistication,” said Simon Chong, a managing partner for Georgian, who joins Influitive’s board as a condition of this round.
Here are some of the credentials. Organ’s marketing automation software company Eloqua sold to Oracle for $871 million. It is the foundation for the company’s Marketing Cloud services. Influitive’s chief financial officer, Steve Wilson, has been involved in more than 25 mergers and acquisitions including deals with IBM and Mattell. Other members of the team boast experience from Bain & Co., Deloitte, Endeca, Siebel, Sophos, and Vertica.
The new money brings total funding to approximately $42 million, Organ said. Other backers for this latest infusion include OurCrowd, a crowdfunding organization typically associated with investments in Israel; and Docomo Capital, the venture fund managed by Japan’s largest mobile operator.
According to Crunchbase, two direct competitors to Influitive re Crowd Factory, which was acquired by Marketo in April 2012; and Zuberance, which has so far raised approximately $12 million since it was founded in October 2010. Influitive’s software is also akin to referral marketing applications from Amplifinity ($15.6 million raised), Extole ($19 million), and SocialChorus ($15 million).
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