Ifbyphone, the leader in voice-based marketing automation, today announced that it has raised an additional $9 million in venture capital funding, bringing its total to over $30 million.

This latest round of funding enables Ifbyphone to continue to expand its client list of fast-growing new economy companies that rely on phone conversations and voice-based marketing automation to generate sales and fuel explosive growth. The move comes as phone calls have re-emerged as a critical vehicle for marketing and sales teams to capture high-quality leads and acquire new business.

The surge in mobile device adoption and advertising is driving an influx of sales calls into businesses. A 2013 study by Google found that 70 percent of mobile searchers call a business directly from search results, and 61 percent say it is important that businesses give them a phone number to call. According to an ATG/Oracle survey, 67 percent of online shoppers will call a business directly for any purchase greater than $100.
According to BIA/Kelsey, 61 percent of businesses consider phone calls the most important form of lead, more than any other lead type. And $68 billion is spent annually on ads to generate those inbound sales calls.
It's why even though today's fastest-growing new economy companies, such as SaaS (software as a service) and other high-performing businesses, may market their products online, they generate revenue over the phone using inside sales and telemarketing teams. These companies use voice-based marketing automation to measure marketing effectiveness and optimize ROI by not only tracking each inbound call back to the specific online, mobile or offline source that originated it, but also by routing calls automatically to the right sales agent no matter where they are or what phone device they use.

'The role of voice in sales and marketing has reached a tipping point,' said Irv Shapiro, CEO of Ifbyphone. 'The new economy businesses of today, who will become tomorrow's Fortune 500 companies, need new solutions to connect, measure and optimize their phone interactions to maximize revenue - solutions traditional telcos don't provide. Ifbyphone's voice-based marketing automation platform has already proven its value to thousands of these fast-growing businesses across every industry, and this latest round of funding will help us expand and go after the rest.'

Many businesses today have a blind spot in their marketing and sales processes, and they are losing money, customers and growth every day as a result. The source of the problem is hiding in plain sight: phone calls. Marketers don't know which ads, programs, content, PPC keywords and other sources drive inbound calls, and they can't attribute sales opportunities and revenue from those calls to the right sources.

'Our data show that $68 billion is spent annually on ads to generate phone calls, yet many marketers don't know which campaigns actually make the phone ring,' said Michael Boland, Senior Analyst at BIA/Kelsey. 'That's why call tracking technology like that provided by Ifbyphone is important to properly attribute where ROI is achieved; and where marketing, customer service and operational strategies need to be further optimized.'

Built specifically for marketing and sales teams to control voice interactions with customers and prospects, Ifbyphone's voice-based marketing automation platform helps businesses optimize marketing ROI, generate and convert more high-quality phone leads to sales opportunities and acquire more business and revenue over the phone. As of December 2013, Ifbyphone has processed over 200 million phone calls and over 600 million minutes. Ifbyphone customers are currently using hundreds of thousands of Ifbyphone phone numbers with dynamic number call tracking generating more than 150 million online impressions.
Ifbyphone has continued to add senior leadership to its executive team, most recently with the hiring of Steve Dimmitt as Vice President of Customer Experience and Josh Mallamud as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships. Dimmitt is the former Senior Vice President of Sales and Advertising Solutions at AT&T and CRO at GiftCards.com, while Mallamud was the founder of JigoCity.

'Ifbyphone has built a world-class executive team comprised of individuals who have all run $100-million organizations. Our investors have provided us an additional $9 million to fuel significant growth in 2014 and 2015,' said Shapiro, 'and we have the proven technology to do it. This is not your parents' voice. It is not led by telcos. It is not a hosted PBX. Voice-based marketing automation is delivered via the cloud and works with all of the devices and business applications you already have. Ifbyphone is doing for voice what Salesforce.com® did for CRM and Marketo® does for marketing automation: putting control in the hands of marketing and sales teams. It's an extremely exciting time.'

The $9 million in new funding was led by River Cities Capital Funds, with participation from Ifbyphone's existing investors, Apex Venture Partners, Origin Ventures and I2A, as well as a new investor, SSM Partners.