Software review marketplace G2 raises $157M in Series D funding; achieves unicorn status at over $1 billion valuation with over 1.3 million verified reviews

With millions of software and apps out there on the Internet, finding the right software is like looking for a needle in a haystack. That was why G2 (formerly known as G2 Crowd) decided to help organizations find the right software for their business.

Better known as a sort of “Yelp for business software,” G2 operates a software marketplace to help organizations and individuals research, buy, and manage their software and services. Today, G2 is now the world’s largest software marketplace with over 1.3 million verified reviews and 2,000+ customers.

To further grow its platform, G2 announced it has raised $157 million in Series D funding led by Permira’s growth fund, with participation from existing investors including Accel, Emergence, and IVP. New strategic investors include HubSpot Ventures and Salesforce Ventures, and others. The latest round now values G2 at a valuation of more than $1.1 billion, making it a member of the highly coveted unicorn club. In conjunction with the funding, G2 also announced that Permira Partner and Head of the Menlo Park office Tom Eggemeier will join its Board of Directors as part of the transaction.

Founded in 2012 by Godard Abel, Mark Myers, Matt Gorniak, Mike Wheeler, and Tim Handorf, G2 is a platform to share business software reviews in real-time. It leverages more than 1.3 million user reviews to drive better purchasing decisions. G2 is used by business professionals, buyers, investors, and analysts to select the best software and services based on peer reviews and synthesized social data.

In addition, G2 is the largest and most trusted software marketplace globally. More than five million software buyers each month trust G2, making G2.com one of the Top 1000 web destinations in the U.S. Additionally, 2,000 companies rely on G2 to build their reputation, manage their software spend, and grow their business — including Salesforce, Hubspot, Zoom, Lyft, among others.

The platform is set to reach 60 million software buyers annually, with 100,000+ software and services companies in 2,000+ categories and over 1.3 million trusted user reviews. Nearly 60 percent of the Forbes Cloud 100 are G2 customers, including over 2,000 software customers such as Adobe, Autodesk, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zoom. These companies utilize G2’s Marketing Solutions to increase revenue, manage and grow their reputation, and gain valuable customer insights. In addition, nearly 1,000 companies use G2 Track to manage and optimize their annual software expenditures.

“Software spending will top $4 trillion this year and is growing quickly with the need for digital transformation. Customers expect reliable, trusted reviews for everything they shop for and this is increasingly true for B2B software purchases where complexity is at an all-time high and trust is low,” said G2 CEO and Co-Founder Godard Abel. “This funding will be a catalyst for G2 to expand our community and products, grow our team, and continue investing in our vision to be the place for software online.”

“During my time at Genesys, I saw first-hand how the power and utility of authentic reviews influence enterprise software buyers to make more informed buying decisions. The G2 platform serves as an objective, real-time alternative to analyst reports, and with this investment, will be well-positioned to continue to grow and support more customers around the world,” said Tom Eggemeier, Partner and Head of the Menlo Park office at Permira. “We are thrilled to be backing G2 and look forward to leveraging our extensive experience in backing and growing enterprise software and best-in-class technology platforms to further its market leading position.”

Today, G2 is the largest, most trusted destination for software, with more visitors than all other software reviews sites combined. The company added 700 paying customers for its Marketing Solutions in the past 12 months and saw a 95 percent increase in organic traffic from software buyers.

“As a longtime investor in G2, we have seen how vital the company’s marketplace is as software buyers face increasing pressure to answer the demands for digital transformation in their businesses,” said Jules Maltz, General Partner at IVP. “We’re bullish on the future for G2 and look forward to seeing the additional growth and success this fundraising round helps G2 achieve.”

“At HubSpot, we believe that delivering a great customer experience is the key to growing better. So naturally, we’re delighted to invest in G2 — a platform that’s powered by authentic reviews and dedicated to helping customers find the best solutions available in today’s crowded software market,” said Andrew Lindsay, SVP of Corporate and Business Development, HubSpot (for HubSpot Ventures).