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ClearSlide Raises $28M in Expansion Capital

2012-08-29
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, ClearSlide today announced that it has raised $28 million in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners. ClearSlide transforms enterprise sales teams by giving them a single, modern, cloud-based platform.
ClearSlide today announced that it has raised $28 million in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), with participation from existing investors Greylock Partners and Felicis Ventures. Byron Deeter, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, and John M. Jack, former Chief Executive Officer and President of Fortify Software, have joined ClearSlide's board of directors.

ClearSlide transforms enterprise sales teams by giving them a single, modern, cloud-based platform on which to communicate with their customers and prospects, whether in-person, over the phone, or via email. Companies use ClearSlide's analytics to keep their sales teams on message, identify and standardize best practices, and optimize collateral. For sales reps, ClearSlide removes technology friction, encourages teamwork, and highlights customer interest. ClearSlide is 100% focused on providing a broad, integrated product platform that helps enterprise sales teams drive more revenue.

"At BVP, we've been fortunate to work with and help nurture some of the largest businesses in the SaaS industry, which has given us strong insight into the key growth drivers and metrics of leading cloud companies," said Byron Deeter. "I was really impressed by ClearSlide's team, as well as their operating metrics and rate of market adoption. There is extremely strong customer demand for their offering and we're thrilled to work closely with ClearSlide in their next stage of hyper growth."

ClearSlide will use the new funding to rapidly expand the team, invest in new products and technologies, open new offices, and expand marketing. The company has quickly grown to more than 100 employees with plans to more than double headcount in San Francisco and New York.

"We see a huge opportunity before us. I'm excited that our latest round of funding gives us the resources to expand even faster," said Al Lieb, CEO and co-founder of ClearSlide. "I'm truly proud of what our team has built to date, honored by the passion and loyalty from our customers, and look forward to the size and scope of what we will build in the coming year."

ClearSlide's customer base is expanding rapidly and includes companies from a wide range of verticals, including media, technology, business and financial services. Industry-leading companies such as CareerBuilder, Expedia, Gannett, Rackspace, Shazam and The Weather Channel rely on ClearSlide daily for customer communications across their sales team.

"We ran a detailed study on the impact of using ClearSlide within our sales team," said Andrew Garcia, Media Sales & Marketing Manager at Wayfair. "In Q2, we saw a 60% higher close rate for the companies we pitched using ClearSlide, compared to our traditional average. We also clearly saw that the reps that used ClearSlide the most also closed the most business."

More information on the ClearSlide platform and innovative new product features that are helping sales professionals win more deals can be found at: http://clearslide.com/public/content/company/blog

About ClearSlide

ClearSlide provides the leading cloud-based sales communication platform designed specifically to meet the needs of enterprise sales professionals and help close more business. Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., ClearSlide is funded by top Silicon Valley investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners and Felicis Ventures. ClearSlide was a winner of the Red Herring's Top 100 Americas award, a prestigious award honoring the year's most promising private technology ventures from the North American business region.

For more information on ClearSlide, visit www.clearslide.com.

About Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) is a global venture capital firm with offices in Silicon Valley, Cambridge, Mass., New York, Mumbai and Herzliya, Israel. BVP delivers the broadest platform in venture capital spanning across industries, geographies, generations and stages of company growth. From Staples to Skype, VeriSign to Yelp, LinkedIn to Pinterest, BVP has helped incubate and support companies that have anchored tidal shifts in the economy. More than 100 BVP-funded companies have gone public on exchanges in North America, Europe and Asia.

Bessemer Venture Partners has been a leading investor in Cloud Computing for more than 12 years, supporting early pioneers in this high-growth market including Postini, Cyota, Trigo, and VeriSign. During this time, BVP has invested in more than 50 Cloud Computing companies that are driving this market transformation. BVP's current cloud portfolio is one of the largest in the venture capital industry and includes leading public and private companies such as Box, Broadsoft (BSFT), Cornerstone OnDemand (CSOD), DocuSign, Eloqua (ELOQ), LifeLock, LinkedIn (LNKD), Shopify, Twilio, and Wix. For more information, visit http://www.bvp.com/cloud.
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