Halifax-based LeadSift, whose software helps customers find sales leads, has reached an agreement with Innovacorp to let Nova Scotian tech startups use its software free.

LeadSift has developed software that helps business-to-business companies find potential customers who have revealed an intention to make purchases in their field. The company doubled its revenues in 2019 and was expecting to do so again this year, and possibly report a profit. Though the Covid-19 pandemic has affected sales, CEO Tukan Das said it is still closing deals because it can help companies find customers in troubled times.

Now the company wants to help all Nova Scotian B2B startups in the IT space by letting them use the software to find new clients and generate sales. Under its agreement with Innovacorp, IT startups based in Nova Scotia can use the software for six months, as long as they’re B2B companies that already sell across North America and have some outbound marketing.

“As a technology company in the sales intelligence space, there are only a few things we can help other businesses with in this current situation,” said Das in a note to Nova Scotian startups. “One of them is to provide your business with a daily stream of leads showing interest towards your industry.”

After it had been going for about five years, LeadSift in 2017 pivoted so its technology combed all information on the web to find businesses with an “intent to buy”. It is able to give corporate customers a daily stream of possible sales leads based on these exercises.

Das said in an interview that at the end of 2019 there were about six players in the “intent data” space internationally and one is LeadSift.

Das said sales were good in the first few weeks of March, and then the Covid-19 crisis hit. Sales declined marginally, and Das said the company spent a few weeks assessing what was happening.

“What we want to do now is go onto offense mode,” said Das. “Businesses that are in the travel and hospitality sectors can’t sell, but outside of that our customers need us more than ever.”

He said his biggest customers are unable to sell through trade shows and such events, but their sales people still need leads. So they have been reaching out to LeadSift to find possible customers who have signaled an intention to buy.

The company is also creating content on how to sell in the current environment. The content is proving popular with existing and prospective clients.

LeadSift is also using its technology to help IT professionals who have been laid off due to the crisis. It has scanned job boards from across the country to assemble a list of job openings for programmers and others in the IT space.

Said Das: “At LeadSift, we have decided to use our technology to help in a small way the people who are looking for a new job.”