Insider, trusted by 1/3 of the Fortune Global 500, unlocks unicorn status and announces $121M Series D with a $1.22B valuation

Named a Leader by Forrester, Gartner, IDC, and G2, Insider helps 1000+ leading enterprise brands and high-growth startups including Samsung, GAP, Santander, Vodafone, IKEA, MAC, Virgin, Toyota, Singapore Airlines, Madeira Madeira, Marks & Spencer, and Estée Lauder accelerate digital growth through best-in-class cross-channel customer experiences.

Insider, a leader in personalized, cross-channel customer experiences, today announced a $121 million Series D round led by QIA, at a $1.22 billion valuation. Other investors participating in the round include Sequoia Capital, Riverwood Capital, 212, Wamda Capital, Esas Private Equity, and Endeavor Catalyst.

The additional capital will be used to fuel rapid global expansion, enhance the company’s core technology and scale global sales and marketing investments. Insider has aggressive global hiring plans and anticipates creating more than 2,000 jobs over the next four years, with an emphasis on hiring female engineers to fill hundreds of R&D and product development positions.

Today’s consumers engage digitally with brands across six or more channels on average.  Marketers are challenged with engaging with customers on their preferred channels when they are most active. Insider’s AI-powered platform brings together the most extensive set of personalization capabilities with emerging messaging channels like WhatsApp, Facebook, RCS, and SMS. Insider technology coordinates all offline and online data into a unified platform that allows enterprise marketers to:

● connect customer data across channels and systems to reveal interests and preferred touchpoints

● predict future behavior with an AI-powered intent engine, such as which customer segments are likely to convert, buy, and churn

● orchestrate and deliver individualized, optimized experiences to customers with the fastest time to value.

Insider’s channel integrations take minutes, not months, reducing dependency on internal IT teams. The platform enables digital marketers to drive growth across channels and throughout the funnel from acquisition to activation, revenue, and retention (AARR), thereby impacting ROI metrics such as conversion rate, CAC, LTV, and average order value.

With this funding milestone, the company also became one of a few female-led SaaS unicorns in the world. Insider has achieved consistent, rapid growth and according to Crunchbase is one of the top 9 B2B SaaS unicorns globally: the fifth largest B2B SaaS unicorn in the U.S., fourth in Europe, second in Asia, and first in Latin America. 

“We’ve been blitzscaling remarkably in the past three years and achieved 3X growth. In the same period, our global team grew by 300%, and our customer base continues to increase,” said founder and CEO Hande Cilingir. “Following our aggressive expansion in Asia, Europe and LATAM, we’ll carry this momentum in the U.S. market. We are a trusted software partner to leading global brands like Samsung, Singapore Airlines, GAP, MAC, and Santander. We are laser-focused on bringing Insider to additional markets, and becoming the number one choice for every marketer on this planet.”

Mr. Mansoor bin Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud, CEO of QIA, said: “QIA is constantly looking for innovators, both in the MENA region and globally, in line with our increasing focus on the tech space. Insider clearly stands out in the marketing technology ecosystem, and its highly personalized results can provide value to both audiences and businesses.”

Pieter Kemps, Principal Sequoia Capital, said: “Companies that can deliver delight for their customers are the ones that win. And Insider is doing just that: using next-level individualization to help brands deliver delight to their customers. And without a doubt, this is the future of CX.”

Joe De Pinho, Principal at Riverwood Capital, said: “The bar for competition has been raised across the board in SaaS over the past 5 years. Insider stands out as an outlier. Hande is a truly exceptional leader and, backed by her brilliant co-founders and teams, is building a world-class software company with capabilities beyond those of many in the Valley. Theirs is a different mindset: one that breaks past boundaries and makes what seems impossible to many, a possibility.”

Insider’s platform is used by marketing teams at more than 1000+ global enterprise brands, including industry powerhouses such as Samsung, GAP, Santander, Vodafone, IKEA, MAC, Virgin, Toyota, Singapore Airlines, Madeira Madeira, Marks & Spencer, BBVA, and Estée Lauder. With teams on the ground in 28 countries, Insider ensures deep localization and support for clients. 

Founded in 2012 by Cilingir (CEO), Serhat Soyuerel (Chief Revenue Officer), Arda Koterin (Chief Customer Officer), Sinan Toktay (CTO), Okan Yedibela (VP of Engineering), and Muharrem Derinkök (Chief Product Officer), the Insider team has more than 700 team members from 41 different nationalities across 28 countries worldwide. Insider is a female-led organization with 60% of top executives in the company, including the CEO, CMO, CFO, and CHRO, being women. Hande Cilingir was selected as one of the top women CEOs outside of the US by Crunchbase.

The market-leading martech platform is trusted by one-third of the Fortune Global 500 and half of Dow Jones Global Titans 50. Insider was named Leader in The Forrester Wave for Cross-Channel Campaign Management 2021 and Gartner Magic Quadrant for Personalization Engines 2021. The company has been named #1 Leader on G2’s Mobile Marketing Software and Personalization Grids with a 4.6/5 rating for 20 consecutive quarters.

We’re hiring, everywhere! Check out our open positions: https://useinsider.com/careers/