Introhive Inc. has raised its current round of funding to about $5 million with a strategic investment from Salesforce.com of San Francisco.
The Fredericton- and Washington, D.C.-based startup said in a statement Wednesday that Salesforce had joined the round that included investments from Build Ventures,
Though the statement did not reveal the value of the funding round, an Introhive spokesman said it is now worth about $5 million.
Introhive helps large corporations to avoid having to make cold calls – especially for sales but in developing other relationships as well – by determining who in the company already has a strong relationship with an organization it wants to reach. Introhive patrols the emails addresses that cross the client company’s server, especially large companies with thousands of employees. If a sales person wants to make a contact at another company, Introhive can identify colleagues who have been emailing with people at the target company, meaning they could be tapped to make an introduction.
The company was already distributing its product over Salesforce’s AppExchange, which Introhive
"We think social selling is about effectively leveraging the strength of enterprise relationships and managing them in a practical way that brings results," said Glidden in the statement Wednesday. "Our customers are seeing great value from the platform. This investment will help us get it in front of more like-minded companies sooner."
The latest announcement deepens Salesforce’s relationship with the Maritimes, and highlights once again the company’s role in the region. The startup craze in Atlantic Canada began in earnest when Salesforce bought Radian6 in early 2011. Since then it has also bought GoInstant and struck distribution relationships with such companies as Oris4, LeadSift and IntroHive.
As of this summer, Introhive employed about 35 people, two-thirds of them working for the Fredericton-based development team, and Glidden said they will continue to develop new features for Introhive.
Glidden and Co-Founder Stewart Walchli previously launched New Brunswick’s Chalk Media, which they sold to BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion for $30 million in 2009. They came together last year to found IntroHive, with seed funding from Fortify Ventures of Washington, D.C., and
