Calendly 350m openview venture partners iconiq
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via: Because of Them We Can The Black-owned scheduling app Calendly just raised 350 million, pushing their value to more than 3 billion, Shoppe Black reports. On the side, he started a dating website, a company that sold projectors, and another that sold garden tools. Tope Awotona’s cloud scheduling platform Calendly, has raised 350 million from OpenView Venture Partners and Iconiq capital, making the Atlanta-based company valued at over 3 billion. Instead, he sold software to tech firms such as Perceptive Software, Vertafore, and EMC (since acquired by Dell).
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“I’m probably too outgoing to be a programmer.” “I liked coding, but it was too repetitive,” he says. While we considered outside investment an unnecessary distraction, we made the decision to partner with OpenView and Iconiq because of their insight and extended network within the tech industry, said Tope. At the University of Georgia, he majored in computer science before transferring to business and management information. This funding round is Calendly’s first since receiving US550,000 from local firm Atlanta Ventures and OpenView. He moved to Atlanta with his family when he was 15 years old, in 1996. “From a very young age, there was a part of me that wanted to redeem him,” he once said. If yes, why do people still invest in them Are private companies that dont raise venture capital still viable Are private equity and VC fund terms becoming. Awotona was 12 years old when he witnessed his father being shot and killed during a carjacking. Lagos, a 15-million-person city, is economically vibrant but dangerous. His father was a microbiologist and business owner, and his mother worked at the central bank. “It’s helped me personally, and I believe it’s helped the business.”Īwotona was born into a middle-class family in Lagos, Nigeria. “I’ve benefited in my life from not accepting conventional wisdom,” Awotona says. This broad perspective allows him to speculate that the global market into which Calendly is selling could be worth $20 billion. Others may regard meeting scheduling as a drudgery, but Awotona sees it as critical to connecting everything that happens within an organization. It also entails integrating with productivity tools such as Salesforce in order to track results. Now, thanks to this latest round of funding, Calendly can be added to that growing list of unicorn companies, as the raise has helped the company surpass its $3 billion valuation.Īccording to the announcement, the company will use the funding to not only further expand the team, but to “provide liquidity for early shareholders” (since, it seems, the intent is to take the company public) and to “continue product innovation.Read Also: “To integrate Africa, bring down the walls,” Adesina urges at 2019 AFDB Annual Meetings Open in Malabo Notable American unicorns include SpaceX, JUUL Labs, Epic Games, and Instacart. In venture capitalism, a “unicorn” company is one that is a privately-owned (not publicly traded) start-up with a valuation of $1 billion or more. In July 2021, during the Covid outbreak, Awotona closed the companys Atlanta headquarters and took the company remote. However, most impressively, this latest round of funding has put Calendly into what’s known as “unicorn” territory. In January 2021, Calendly raised 350 million from investment firms OpenView Venture Partners and Iconiq, at a reported 3 billion valuation. “Our profitable, unique, product-led growth model has led to Calendly becoming the most used, most integrated, most loved scheduling platforms for individuals and large enterprises alike,” said Awotona. What’s more, the app can also be streamlined with other apps, such as Zoom, which makes it desirable for busy professionals.
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In 2020, the company reportedly doubled its subscription revenue to $70 million, and as of this writing, more than 10 million people use the app each month to help schedule their meetings. OpenView Venture Partners led the round with assistance from San Francisco-based Iconiq Capital.Ĭalendly, itself, is a company that’s one of the fastest-growing in the field. Calendly, a world-renowned cloud scheduling app whose usefulness only increased in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, has crossed into unicorn territory.Īccording to The Atlanta Business Journal, the app - which was founded by Tope Awotona - just raised $350 million in this latest round of funding.