Highspot raises funding to take sales enablement mainstream

By Kate Birch
Standing out from the global sales enablement platform crowd, Highspot’s unique platform is flying high having just secured US$200 million funding...

Sales enablement platform Highspot has secured US$200 million in Series E funding from lead investor Tiger Global Management, new investor Bain & Company and six more existing investors.

This latest round of funding, which now gives Highspot a valuation of US$2.3 billion, follows back-to-back record quarters for new customer wins and annual recurring revenue growth in fiscal year 2021. 

Currently used by global organisations such as Twitter, General Motors, Nestle and Verizon Media, Hotspot has undergone recent rapid growth, witnessing a 100% increase of usage in 2020 from 2019, with revenue growing an incredible 1,145% over the last three years. 

In November last year, Highspot ranked No. 101 on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500™, a ranking of the 500 fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences, and energy tech companies in North America. 

Sales enablement emerges as strategic necessity

Such rapid growth is being driven by the essential role that sales enablement is playing today in helping organisations improve the performance of their sales teams. In fact, the last year has seen sales enablement emerge as a “strategic imperative”, according to Mark Kovac, Partner and Global B2B Commercial Excellence Practice at Bain & Company, one of Highspot’s investors. 

Those companies who have built world-class enablement teams and technology are “managing change and uncertainty at scale”, while others continue to struggle with agility and inconsistent performance. 

Standing out from the sales enablement platform crowd

But more than just riding the wave of sales enablement demand, Highspot’s success is also testament to the fact that the platform is entirely unique. As the only unified, natively-build sales enablement platform, Highspot has the ability to turn strategy into successful execution. 

So, while Salesforce changed sales 20 years ago and Marketo did the same for marketing a decade back, Highspot’s vision is to change the way companies go to market. 

According to Robert Wahbe, Highspot’s CEO, sales enablement is about more than just sales, it’s about connecting everyone from marketing and sales to post-sales in delivering a unified buying experience that wins, retains and expands customer relationships. 

As such, scaling a company’s go-to-market strategy is a complex process with a large gap existing between strategy and execution. And that’s where Highspot comes in. “We close the gap. Our single, unified platform improves sales performance by turning strategy into successful execution,” states Wahbe. 

It is Highspot’s differentiated approach, Kovac believes, that “will become the foundation upon which modern businesses achieve consistent revenue growth and market share gains”.  

The platform which includes content, guidance, training, coaching, engagement intelligence and 360-degree analytics, is already being used by leading organisations across all industries, from Twitter, Aetna, DocuSign and General Motors, to Dow Jones, John Deer, Nestle and Verizon Media, to help those businesses win and keep customers at scale.

In fact, last year, Highspot connected more than 3 million salespeople, channel partners, services reps and customers in digital sales experiences, and created the world’s largest community of sales enablement professionals, Sales Enablement PRO, which has achieved 13,000 members in less than two years. 

Funding global expansion and product innovation

So, where to now? Well, with the US$200 million funding secured courtesy of investors including Tiger Global Management, Bain & Company, ICONIQ Growth, Madrona Venture Group, OpenView, Salesforce Ventures, Sapphire Ventures and Shasta Ventures, Highspot plans to fuel its next wave of growth.

This includes investment in the following areas:

  • Product Innovation To futher accelerate platform development, including deeper insights into go-to-market strategy and execution offered through Highspot’s industry-only Scorescards. 
  • International Expansion The company is looking to expand its existing EMEA operations into France and also enter the APAC market. 
  • Partner Ecosystem The company is looking to expand its Sales Acceleration Partners programme, which features over 25 of the leading sales methodology partners worldwide, and deepend investments in its tech partner ecosystem.
Share

Featured Articles

Amelia DeLuca, CSO at Delta Air Lines on Female Leadership

Driving decarbonisation at Delta Air Lines, Chief Sustainability Officer Amelia DeLuca discusses the rise of the CSO and value of more women in leadership

Liz Elting – Driving Equality & Building Billion-$ Business

Founder and CEO Liz Elting Turned Her Passion into Purpose and Created a Billion-Dollar Business While Fighting for Workplace Equality – and Winning

JPMorgan Chase: Committed to supporting the next generation

JPMorgan has unveiled a host of new and expanded philanthropic activities totalling US$3.5 million to support the development of apprenticeship programmes

How efficient digital ecosystems became business critical

Technology & AI

Mastercard: Supporting clients at a time of rapid evolution

Digital Strategy

Why Ceridian has boldly rebranded to Dayforce

Human Capital