The Stanford-backed company closes its series C at $100m, with a predicted valuation of $1bn.

InsideSales.com, which sells predictive analytics software that tells salespeople whom they should call at what time to increase their chances at closing a sale, has successfully raised $100m. It follows the company’s series B of $35m in 2013, series A of 4m in 2012, and a venture round of $4m in 2011.
The round was led by Polaris Partners and followed by Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers. Kleiner’s $25m investment is the second largest investment in an enterprise company it has ever made, and it came out of the company’s $1bn digital growth fund. Other investors include Stanford University, Acadia Woods, Epic Ventures, Salesforce.com., Zetta Venture Partners, Sorenson Capital Managing Director Fraser Bullock, as well as current investors Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and US Venture Partners.
The software uses gamification to let salespeople study their own and their colleagues’ performances, a feature which the company hopes will allow it to expand into human resources, customer service and other corporate functions.
The company currently has no ambitions for an IPO, but may raise more money in the future with the aim to become a multi-billion dollar business. The rapid growth of InsideSales follows an initial six years in which it raised no money apart from the founder’s mother in law, who invested between $10,000 and $20,000.
As part of the investment, Dave Barrett, managing partner at Polaris, will joins InsideSales.com’s board as an observer.
David Elkington, founder and chief executive officer, said: “We are able to make much more accurate predictions because of the complexity of human nature and how we look at all the other things we are doing as we are making decisions. [The software] accommodates hundreds or thousands of additional data points.”
Picture: Hoover Tower, Stanford University