Insent co-founders Arjun Pillai (left) and Prasanna Venkatesan. (Insent photo)
Insent received $ 2 million to help midsize B2B companies better identify and communicate with potential buyers.
The Seattle-based startup sells a chatbot that integrates with marketing and sales platforms and helps start conversations with new website visitors.
“By guiding its buyers at the right time and proactively alerting your sales reps, Insent generates new revenue opportunities and accelerates existing ones,” said Co-Founder and CEO Arjun Pillai.
The company has about 50 customers including Agora.io, Andela, PathFactory, Cleo and others. The main competitors are drift and intercom.
Insent graduated from the Techstars Seattle Accelerator in 2019. Pillai started and previously sold Profoundis (acquired by FullContact in 2016). Its co-founder is Prasanna Venkatesan, a former IBM engineer who also co-founded another company.
Pillai said the pandemic presented a double-edged sword. Many marketing teams cut budgets, extending Insent’s sales cycles and shunting business. But companies are now using tools to help digital customer acquisition, and chat is high on their list, Pillai said. Sales have quadrupled since May.
Insent employs 40 people in the USA, Canada and India.
Emergent Ventures led the round, which included participation from BAM Ventures, Techstars, Arka Venture Labs and Arali Ventures. Bizible founder Aaron Bird is also an investor in the company.