Sales Intelligence Firm Apollo.io Raises $32M

The sales intelligence and engagement software company Apollo.io has closed a $32 million Series B funding round, which the firm says will help its go-to-market acceleration.

As Yahoo News reported Monday (Nov. 1), the round was led by Tribe Capital with assistance from NewView Capital and existing investor Nexus Venture Partners and brings Apollo to $40 million in funding since its 2015 launch.

The San Francisco-based company was founded by Tim Zheng, who had been working with a firm in the education sector that helped customers send more targeted marketing emails and branched out when friends asked him for a tool for their own industries.

Zheng said the subscription-based Apollo has garnered more than two million business contacts to help clients get an accurate picture of their prospective customer base through algorithms and more than 200 unique business attributes.

Apollo displays this information automatically when users visit LinkedIn profiles and can alert clients with new contact info if someone changes jobs.

“Usually the way to generate sales is to find the pipeline of customers, and to do that outbound, you have to figure out the right people, and we streamline and automate that process,” Zheng said. “Instead of setting up Apollo in months, it takes minutes and a couple of clicks.”

The company will use the funding to boost its marketing, engineering and product development. Apollo.io also plans to double its employee base over the next year, growing to a team of 300.

Apollo also announced that Sri Pangulur, a partner at Tribe Capital joined the company board. Pangulur had monitored the company over the past year. His firm decided to invest after using Apollo.io.

“As we emerge from the pandemic, buyers want an Amazon-like experience where companies are anticipating their needs. You need user data to better drive the sales experience, and as it evolves more personalized capabilities as well,” he said. “Apollo has some unique positioning in that they are doing product-led growth, but also covering the data stack as well.”

Read more: Indian FinTech Khatabook Closes $100M Series C At $600M Valuation

In August, Tribe Capital led the funding for a $100 million Series C at the Indian FinTech Khatabook that valued the company at $600 million.