Akoonu announced an $8M Series A financing and the addition of three top executives in concert with the general availability of Akoonu for Sales, the first buyer-aware platform for account-based selling built on Salesforce App Cloud Lightning.

With more B2B buyers using online resources for self-education and conducting lengthy vendor selection processes, the complexity of selling into industries such as technology, life sciences and financial services has escalated, and the turnover rate of the sales representatives that do the selling is also rising. Akoonu's new SaaS product, Akoonu for Sales, harnesses the power of data science for B2B sales organizations facing the challenge of managing more complex sales processes with sales teams of varied experience levels. Unlike traditional CRM opportunity management, Akoonu for Sales uses buyer signals harvested from multiple sources to produce powerful Opportunity Maps and Win Maps that enable rapid, fact-based assessment of buyer engagement and deal status, guided selling activities and streamlined sales pipeline and deal reviews to focus sales efforts on the deals most likely to close.

New Financing Spurs Growth

Shasta Ventures led the Series A round to accelerate product development and market entry of Akoonu for Sales. "We were impressed by the buyer insights Akoonu produced through integrating and correlating CRM data with harvested buyer signals," said Ravi Mohan, Managing Director at Shasta Ventures. "We see a huge opportunity to arm sales teams with automated analysis and visualization of buyer signals so Sales can understand deal context beyond the account representatives' view and hence, know where to focus to drive more profitable revenue."

Management Team Expansion Strengthens Enterprise Expertise

Akoonu also announced the addition of three enterprise software industry veterans to the Akoonu Management Team to drive growth.

David Landreth joins as Head of Sales after serving as Sr. Director of Enterprise Sales and Field Operations at SessionM, a Mobile-first digital marketing platform, and previously leading sales for predictive analytics software vendors 6Sense and Lattice Engines.

Ravi Jagannathan, Head of Products at Akoonu, brings more than 25 years of product management and development experience to his role, including leadership roles at Synqq, a cloud-based mobile app for sales professionals he co-founded, and data management companies Siperian and Agile.

In addition, start-up finance executive Sean Noonan joins as CFO of Akoonu, building on more than 15 years of experience including recently serving as interim CFO and consultant to companies such as Outreach.io and Upland Software.

Jeff Freund, CEO and Founder of Akoonu, said, "We welcome David, Ravi and Sean to our team as we launch Akoonu for Sales to further our mission of revolutionizing account-based selling for B2B organizations and making people successful at every level of B2B sales and marketing." Freund continues, "Akoonu for Sales was designed to serve organizations facing longer sales cycles and larger buying committees that find their sales teams struggling to track and manage buyer engagement while juggling multiple deals."

Akoonu for Sales Serves Needs of Sales Reps and Sales Management

Developed with input from a cadre of sales professionals, including sales executives, managers, representatives and operations leaders across B2B companies of all sizes, Akoonu for Sales makes Sales Representatives more productive by reducing manual data entry and improving visibility into buyers and their behaviors. For Sales Management, the product provides streamlined workflows to optimize Sales Pipeline and Deal Review meetings. "With Akoonu for Sales, I am able to quickly review pipeline status, evaluate risk and identify the deals that need my attention," said Noah Logan, Senior Vice President, Sales at Traackr. "Akoonu gives me deal context that includes buyer signals, so I can give my reps better guidance faster."

About Akoonu
Akoonu harnesses the power of data science in its flagship SaaS product, Akoonu for Sales, to produce powerful Opportunity and Win Maps that enable companies with complex sales processes to map the progress of each buyer in the buyers journey. Sales Executives, Managers and Account Executives leverage buyer signals to focus strategy, resources and action planning on the deals most likely to close, while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of Sales Pipeline and Deal Review meetings through streamlined workflows. Akoonu for Marketing can optionally be used to develop and synchronize enhanced buyers journey insights with Akoonu for Sales, including validated buyer needs, targeted messaging and recommended content.

Founded in 2014 by veteran enterprise software executives to reinvent complex selling practices in the digital age, Akoonu arms companies with buyer-aware Account-Based Selling on Salesforce to master their revenue journeys. For more information, visit http://www.akoonu.com.