Qualified.com lands $12M Series A funding to solve a multi-billion-dollar problem for enterprise marketing and sales teams

For B2B brands, building sales pipeline is a slow, inefficient process with delayed handoffs and missed opportunities to meet with qualified buyers. Every year, B2B marketers spend more than $6 billion driving buyers to their website, but sales teams have no way of knowing when a qualified buyer is on their website, and no way of speaking with that buyer in that pivotal moment. The result is that B2B brands are wasting their marketing budget, and leaving pipeline and revenue on the table.

Enter Qualified.com, a San Francisco-based tech startup and a conversational marketing platform for companies that use Salesforce. Qualified is solving a multi-billion-dollar problem for enterprise marketing and sales teams. Qualified.com is a a B2B marketer that qualifies prospects to websites. Its platform is used by enterprise sales and marketing teams at leading B2B brands. Qualified ties directly into Salesforce to give companies a 360-degree view of their website visitors, and arms them with tools to identify their target buyers and instantly start a conversation.

Yesterday, Qualified ananounced it has raised $12 million Series A funding round to meet the growing demand for conversational marketing in the Salesforce ecosystem and turn B2B websites into real-time sales meetings. The round, which was led by Norwest Venture Partners with additional participation from existing investors including Redpoint Ventures and Salesforce Ventures, brings the company’s total funding to $17 million. In conjunction with funding news, Qualified also announced that Scott Beechuk, partner at Norwest Venture Partners, will join its board of directors.

Qualified was founded in 2018 by former Salesforce executives Kraig Swensrud and Sean Whiteley. During their time at Salesforce, Kraig served as chief marketing officer and Sean as GM and product SVP. This is the third company that the duo has built in the Salesforce ecosystem. With this funding, Qualified will more than double the company’s size in all key functions including sales, marketing, customer success and product, with additional features coming around artificial intelligence and Salesforce Einstein.

In enterprise sales, speed matters: Waiting even five minutes after a lead leaves a website decreases the chances of making contact by 10x. However, it takes salespeople 38 hours on average to respond to qualified leads. Studies show that 78% of B2B customers buy from the company that responds to them first.

COVID-19 has exacerbated this problem. Marketing and sales teams are scrambling to meet pipeline goals without in-person events. As a result, sales needs to maximize conversations with potential buyers through their digital channels.

“Your website should be your brand’s biggest marketing asset to drive pipeline, but instead, it’s your biggest blindspot,” said Kraig Swensrud, co-founder and CEO of Qualified. “What if your sales team could meet with your most valuable buyers at the magic moment they’re on your website and ready to connect? That’s the future of B2B sales and marketing.”

Qualified turns a B2B website into a real-time selling machine, enabling marketing and sales teams to identify when target buyers arrive on the website and instantly start a conversation. Qualified ties directly into Salesforce to give companies a 360-degree view of their website visitors, and arms them with tools to have a high-fidelity sales meeting, including live chat, chat bots, voice calls, and screen sharing. Within months of using Qualified, ThoughtSpot increased conversations with its target accounts by 10x, Bitly grew its enterprise sales pipeline by 6x, and Gamma drove over $2.5 million in new business pipeline.

“The conversational model is simply a better way to connect with new customers. Buyers love the real-time engagement, sellers love the instant connections, and marketers have the confidence that every dollar spent on demand generation is maximized,” said Scott Beechuk, partner at Norwest Venture Partners. “The multi-billion-dollar market for Salesforce automation software is going to adopt this new model, and Qualified is perfectly positioned to capture that demand. If your company uses Salesforce, Qualified will be a multiplier on your sales and marketing investment.”