6sense, the leading platform for B2B organizations generating predictable revenue, today announced it has closed $200 million in a Series E funding round. The new funding more than doubles 6sense valuation to $5.2 billion just ten months after its $125 million Series D round.
Its latest funding round is co-led by new investors Blue Owl and MSD Partners and includes additional new investors SoftBank Vision Fund 2, B Capital Group, Franklin Templeton, and Harmony Partners. Existing investors Insight Partners, Tiger Global, D1 Capital Partners, and Sapphire Ventures also participated in the round, bringing 6sense's total funding to $426 million.
"Ten months ago we ignited the RevTech Revolution with a promise to provide the only AI-driven platform that unifies data, people, and processes to unlock predictable revenue potential. We've delivered on this promise and the market has spoken. Our growth continues to outpace every competitor in our category, and customers consistently rave about the exceptional results they see with 6sense," said Jason Zintak, CEO of 6sense.
"Ten months ago we ignited the RevTech Revolution with a promise to provide the only AI-driven platform that unifies data, people, and processes to unlock predictable revenue potential. We've delivered on this promise and the market has spoken. Our growth continues to outpace every competitor in our category, and customers consistently rave about the exceptional results they see with 6sense," said Jason Zintak, CEO of 6sense. "This investment adds fuel to our trajectory and gives us the ability to accelerate on our commitments. Our acquisition of Saleswhale is just one example of how we are transforming the way B2B organizations create, manage and convert pipeline to revenue."
Dramatic shifts caused by the continuation of hybrid work in the B2B selling environment - with dispersed buying committees who often are anonymous - have accelerated the demand for a transformation in how sales, marketing, and customer success teams achieve predictable revenue growth. The 6sense platform analyzes data and behaviors to uncover accounts ready to buy and recommends the best action, channel, and messages that are most likely to connect with buyers. Companies using the 6sense platform on average experience 120% improvement in revenue effectiveness.
Investments Add Fuel to Momentum
Part of today's funding will be used to deliver the future of email for B2B marketing and sales teams. 6sense's acquisition of Saleswhale, an AI-driven email marketing platform, extends the native engagement channels available in the 6sense platform and builds on the company's RevTech Revolution promise to put the power of AI, big data, and machine learning behind every member of the revenue team.
Additionally, today's funding will accelerate 6sense go-to-market strategies, such as:
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Further expansion in EMEA, Australia, and other international markets to support market demand
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Investing in people and technology to continue building against its aggressive product strategy
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Addressing demand from financial services, manufacturing, and health and life services verticals
Executing on Vision, Delivering Results
At the time of its Series D round in March 2021, 6sense made a commitment to provide its customers with the unified go-to-market platform for their entire revenue team. Since then, 6sense has released 52 major platform features, made two other acquisitions (Fortella and Slintel), and doubled its customer base and customer adoption. The incredible results customers experience demonstrates that 6sense has executed against its vision. Customers prioritizing accounts identified by 6sense's patented intent-based prediction model achieve, on average, 2X increase in deal size, 10% improvement in opportunity conversion rates and 25% reduction in deal-to-close time.
"Today's B2B buyer demands a better, more relevant, buying experience. Those companies who provide it will win their business - today and tomorrow," said Ian Howells, Sage VP and Head of Marketing for Sage Intacct. "6sense is our competitive advantage in this area and continues to help us accelerate our growth by pushing the boundaries of innovation and the role of AI in the marketing and sales process."
Massive Tailwinds
This latest round of funding follows a banner year with run rate revenue exceeding $110 million and a net retention rate over 125%. 6sense has been recognized as a Leader in the Gartner 2022 Magic Quadrant for Account-Based Marketing Platforms Report; named a Leader by G2 across 11 2022 Winter Grid Reports; was named a Best Workplace by Inc. for the third consecutive year; named to the Forbes Cloud 100 list; named the #1 Top Private Cloud-Computing Companies to work for by Battery Ventures; and recognized as a Company for the Happiest Employees, Best Perks and Benefits, Best Culture, Best for Women and Best for Diversity based on employee feedback at Comparably. 6sense CEO Jason Zintak was recognized as the Best CEO by Glassdoor and Comparably this year.
Notable quote references:
"Disparate data silos, disconnected engagement channels and lack of cross-functional collaboration are major pain points in driving effective sales and marketing. 6sense's solution acts as the centralized orchestration engine for the entire revenue operation team (marketing, sales, customer support, management) to drive more informed and impactful prospect/customer engagement strategies. We are excited to support 6sense in its continued mission to improve revenue operations," said Andy Lefkarites of Owl Rock (a division of Blue Owl).
"The impressive growth 6sense has achieved is evidence of the tremendous value they deliver to customers and partners, along with the quality of the team behind it all. We're proud to invest in 6sense to catalyze its bold vision for how revenue teams achieve growth," said Victor Hwang of MSD Partners. "We believe 6sense is a pioneer and the clear leader in defining revtech, a new category that bridges B2B marketing to sales and data intelligence, and look forward to supporting Jason and his team in their continued growth."
To learn more about what this exciting moment means for the RevTech Revolution, read Jason Zintak's blog post.
About 6sense
The 6sense Account Engagement Platform helps B2B organizations achieve predictable revenue growth by putting the power of AI, big data, and machine learning behind every member of the revenue team. 6sense uncovers anonymous buying behavior, prioritizes accounts for sales and marketing, and enables them to engage resistant buying teams with personalized, multi-channel, multi-touch campaigns. 6sense helps revenue teams know everything they need to know about their buyers so they can easily do anything needed to generate more opportunities, increase deal size, get into opportunities sooner, and compete and win more often. Visit 6sense.com for more information.
About Saleswhale
Saleswhale helps B2B companies like InVision, Sage, LaunchDarkly, Randstad and Cisco connect with buyers and generate sales meetings. Saleswhale uses AI to write personalized emails, engage in meaningful conversations with buyers, and detect when a buyer indicates interest. Customers on average see a lift up to 250% in their sales pipeline from by engaging buyers with Saleswhale. Visit saleswhale.com to learn more.
About Blue Owl
Blue Owl is a global alternative asset manager with $82.9* billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2021. Anchored by a strong permanent capital base, the firm deploys private capital across Direct Lending, GP Solutions and Real Estate strategies on behalf of Institutional and Private Wealth clients. Blue Owl's flexible, consultative approach helps position the firm as a partner of choice for businesses seeking capital solutions to support their sustained growth. The firm's management team is comprised of seasoned investment professionals with more than 25 years of experience building alternative investment businesses. Blue Owl employs over 350 people across 10 offices globally. For more information, please visit us at www.blueowl.com.
*Proforma as of 9/30/21 to include AUM attributable to Oak Street which became a Blue Owl Company on 12/29/21.
About MSD Partners
MSD Partners, L.P. is a leading investment firm focused on maximizing long-term capital appreciation across its core areas of investing expertise – Credit, Growth, Private Capital and Real Estate. The Firm deploys capital on behalf of Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell and his family, as well as other like-minded, long-term-oriented investors. MSD Partners, which operates from offices in New York, Santa Monica and West Palm Beach, manages in excess of $20 billion. For further information about MSD Partners, please see www.msdpartners.com.