SquareOne is a venture capital firm focused on pre-seed and seed investments in B2B technology. Typically the first institutional investor on the cap table, SquareOne provides a unique first-customers-guarantee to all its portfolio companies, acting as an entrepreneurial sparring partner and hands-on supporter from day one. With its network of leading executives, tech entrepreneurs, and investors, SquareOne builds the foundation for large and profitable category leaders in B2B software and deep tech businesses across Europe and counts companies like Stripe, Pipedrive, Carbon One, and Wandelbots as part of its portfolio. The Berlin-based VC, formerly known as Paua Ventures, was founded in 2010.

SquareOne Venture Capital

Otto Capital, LLC was formed in October 2008 by David M. Otto. Otto Capital evaluates and structures various business initiatives and provides and secures private equity, venture capital and equity and debt financing to start-up and emerging growth companies. Otto Capital has helped to identify and finance businesses in the following sectors:  - real estate - oil and gas services - recycling and “clean tech” - over-the-counter health care products  Otto Capital, in evaluating and undertaking prospective opportunities, applies a proprietary framework for evaluating the principal elements of, and ensuring the likelihood of success with respect to, a wide variety of business propositions. Otto Capital’s access to venture, debt and equity financing and its analytical framework for evaluating various business initiatives makes it an ideal partner for early-stage and emerging growth private and public companies.

Otto Capital

Senovo is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Munich and Berlin that partners with exceptional founders building global B2B SaaS category-leaders from Europe. As European first-mover, the fund invests since 2013 into a new generation of B2B software startups which enable the digitalization of medium and large enterprises. Their focus is primarily on supporting teams working in the areas of process optimization, industry 4.0 and data-enabled solutions. Senovo joins the journey after a company has first revenues in a late Seed or Series A round. Their team of SaaS specialists seek meaningful eye-level relationships and regularly publish their learnings and thought leadership at www.medium.com/senovovc.

Senovo

Tiburon, led by Felix Artmann and Daniel Wild, has been investing successfully into inspiring founders for over two decades. They have made it their mission to support innovative startups to achieve more. If you just want cash, go somewhere else. They invest smart money and see their selves as your sparring partner on your entrepreneurial journey. They provide you with access to their outstanding network offering marketing expertise, significant synergies and continuous strategic advice. They focus on seed startups in the digital sector.

Tiburon

Xantera AG is a start-up incubator located in Germany (munich). The focus of activity is mobile, web and e-commerce. Right now 9 companies belong to Xantera AG.

Xantera Venture Capital

Bayern Kapital (founded at the end of 1995) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the LfA Foerderbank Bayern (Bavaria‘s development bank). Bayern Kapital’s objective is to finance research and development as well as the market launch of new products, product diversifications, and expansion of the market share. The requesting company has to be located in Bavaria. Industries are e. g. IT/software, life sciences, new materials, micro-systems and environmental technologies.   Bayern Kapital and its funds have invested in more than 250 companies and currently manages funds to the value of EUR 340 m. The five investing funds currently managed by Bayern Kapital are Seedfonds Bayern, Clusterfonds Start-Up!, Innovationsfonds, Innovationsfonds EFRE and Wachstumsfonds Bayern.

Bayern Kapital

Coparion provides venture capital to accelerate momentum and growth. With a currently active fund of EUR 275 million, Coparion has the means to do so. Coparion supports entrepreneurial vision with know-how, but without intervening in daily business operations. Thanks to in-depth experience in venture capital and in building companies, the Coparion team discerns potential and opens up new perspectives. Coparion has the substance, tenacity, and creativity required to mutually manage difficult situations successfully. Coparion only invests with co-investors. The fund invests up to EUR 15M per company, usually in several financing rounds of EUR 0.5-8M each. The investment focus is on German companies in the start-up and early growth phases. Coparion is based in Cologne and Berlin.

coparion

LeadX invests in market-leading European B2B companies providing innovative digital solutions to consumer-facing companies. We leverage our specialist expertise and industry networks in the consumer and technology sectors to add value above and beyond pure capital to the entrepreneurs that we back. These resources enable our partners to scale faster and more efficiently. We partner with innovative entrepreneurs digitising the consumer industries. We target European mature businesses generating over €10 m in revenues and are growing at over 30% CAGR. Our vertical focus on consumer industries and strong industry knowledge and networks allow us to support companies effectively and position ourselves as preferred partner to work with.

LeadX Capital Partners

The FUNKE Digital is the digital unit of the FUNKE MEDIENGRUPPE in Berlin and Essen. Specializing in digital solutions

FUNKE Digital

Shore

Shore is the leading provider of web-based business solutions for local service providers.  The company offers easy and cost-effective access to digital communication and productivity software. The product portfolio spans from Online Booking over a professional CRM system, easy-to-use marketing tools to an efficient iPad-based cash system. Technical knowledge is not required. Shore enables local service providers to benefit from the versatile potential of digital solutions and helps them bring their business to new heights. Founded in 2012, Shore provides its solutions in 10 European countries and opened its first US office in LA in 2015.

<div>Shore is a web-based solution provider offering users cost-effective productivity and digital communication software. Its products range from an online booking system and CRM to marketing tools and a cash system. Shore is a virtual assistant at its core, with an online calendar, appointment scheduling, and customer management features. Although the company was founded and is headquartered in Europe, it has since 2015 opened offices in the US.</div>

Old CRMs were complicated, expensive, and limited. Simpler, cheaper CRMs targeting SMEs have arrived.

SME CRM

Shore Capital raises almost $2bn across three funds

<div>
 
 Shore is a web-based solution provider offering users cost-effective productivity and digital communication software. Its products range from an online booking system and CRM to marketing tools and a cash system. Shore is a virtual assistant at its core, with an online calendar, appointment scheduling, and customer management features. Although the company was founded and is headquartered in Europe, it has since 2015 opened offices in the US. 
 
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Benchmark Email is a sales and email marketing solutions provider for SMEs. The company also owns two CRM platforms - 1) BenchmarkONE, and 2) Contacts+. BenchmarkONE is an integrated CRM, sales, and marketing automation platform which helps users track, organize, and manage current and prospective customers. It was formed by the September 2019 merger of Benchmark Email and Hatchbuck and, as of September 2020, had 500,000 users worldwide.In February 2020, BenchmarkOne acquired MarketVolt, an email marketing platform, leading to the development of the K12 edition of the platform. This product helps educators, communicators, recruiters, and administrators automate repetitive tasks so they have more time to focus on teaching.Benchmark Email <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/469">acquired Contacts+ </a>, an SME-focused CRM platform that syncs contacts across Apple, Microsoft, and Google Workspace, in February 2021. Subsequently, BenchmarkEmail integrated Contacts+ with its entire suite of products including i BenchmarkONE, to help the company expand its market reach to Android and Apple users and give Benchmark Email access to Contacts+’s customer base of over 20,000.In addition, the firm has expanded its product offerings and automation capabilities by leveraging AI &amp; ML. This includes 1) smart sending AI, a machine learning tool in-built in its email automation solution to increase email deliverability (July 2022); 2) <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12027">“Smart Content,</a>” an AI copywriting tool allowing users to use existing content to automatically generate ready-made content for email campaigns at scale (August 2022), and 3) <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29885">Smart Design</a>, an AI-driven email creation tool which can generate branded email templates instantly (May 2024).Key customers and partnershipsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32130">July 2024</a>, Benchmark Email, integrated with Canva, to allow users to design emails and images using Canva's AI-powered platform and easily send them through Benchmark's email platform.

Benchmark Email

Insightly is a developer of a cloud-based CRM platform focused on SMEs. Insightly’s CRM platform includes real-time lead routing, email management tools, dashboard to monitor key sales metrics, custom app creation tools, and tools to automate complex multi-step business processes. Insightly’s focus is on improving customer analytics to enhance customer experience (CX) and it does this through multiple integration features, which give users a wide range of flexibility. While its core integration is with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, Insightly can also integrate with 2000+ integrations including Xero, QuickBooks, Mailchimp, and Slack.&nbsp;Insightly’s three other products that can be be integrated with its CRM platform are 1) <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5611">Insightly Service</a>— a customer service and support ticketing product that helps organizations resolve customer issues, share important customer insights across relevant departments in real-time, 2) Insightly Marketing— a marketing platform which includes tools to map customer journeys, email creation tools, options to capture feedback, and campaign management tools, and 3) <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/477">AppConnect</a>— a no-code workflow automation platform which integrates finance, IT, marketing, HR, and other business apps with the Insightly platform. AppConnect provides more than 500 pre-built connectors to apps, including Google Workspace, SAP, PayPal, Shopify, Slack, and Dropbox and automates data transfers eliminating the need for professionals with coding skills and data tools. Insightly also provides a mobile app that includes flexible features for enhanced project management and data security.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32132">July 2024</a>, Insightly merged with Unbounce, a provider of landing page creation and optimization software to enhance its CRM and marketing capabilities. Insightly continued to maintain a standalone identity post merger.Key customers and partnershipsAs of October 2022, Insightly was used by 25,000+ customers including Bloomberg, Sanofi, and Bosch. The firm claimed that manufacturers experienced a 70% lift to ROI and a 58% growth in customer win-rates a a year after using Insightly’s CRM.nsightly also has partnerships with other apps such as Evernote, PandaDoc, Zapier, HubStaff, Proposify, Kixie, and Quotient. In November 2022, Insightly joined <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14991">Intuit’s QuickBooks solutions provider program </a>to integrate its CRM platform with QuickBooks accounting solutions.Funding &amp; financialsThe company’s last funding round was in April 2016, where it raised USD 25 million in a Series C financing round led by Scott Bommer, former founder of SAB Capital. The company was to use the funds to expand its CRM to service larger businesses and to build its direct sales team.

Insightly

Pipedrive is an activity-based CRM platform built around scheduling, tracking, and completing activities. It includes tools built specifically to analyze sales, generate leads, automatically schedule follow-ups, and help close deals efficiently at each stage of growth. The platform also integrates with more than 275 third-party apps and includes some of its internally developed add-ons such as LeadBooster—which is a lead generation tool containing a database of around 400 million lead profiles, 10 million company profiles, and Web Visitors—which helps enterprises analyze customer activity in their websites. In June 2022, the company expanded its suite of products with the addition of <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10898?industryIds=8">campaign management tools, </a>Additionally, in September 2022, the firm announced the beta launch of a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13458?industryIds=8">workflow automation feature </a>under its “Campaigns by Pipedrive” solution. In May 2023, the firm launched a developer hub, a centralized online app development platform to enable its technology partners and developers to build new app integrations for Pipedrive’s marketplace.In .April 2024, it introduced <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/28961">Pipedrive AI </a>, a suite of AI tools including an AI-powered sales assistant, AI-generated email writing, AI email summarization, AI smart app recommendations, and an AI-powered Marketplace search.Pipedrive has four standard plans (Essential, Advanced, Professional, and Enterprise), allowing users to subscribe to customizable plans based on individual requirements for specific features. In May 2023, the firm also launched a “Power best value plan” to enable SMEs to meet the specific requirements needed to scale their business operations. As of March 2023, Pipedrive has more than 100,000 SME customers worldwide, with an employee headcount of over 800. Key customers and partnershipsIn August 2023, Pipedrive <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21407">partnered with RapidVerify </a>to integrate the firm's identify verification solution to Pipedrive’s CRM platform. The new integration is expected to provide real-time verification and help mitigate potential risks of fraud.Funding and financialsIn November 2020, Pipedrive received a majority investment from private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. While the amount of investment was not disclosed, it has resulted in Pipedrive achieving unicorn status, with an estimated valuation of USD 1.5 billion. The acquisition is expected to boost Pipedrive’s expansion capabilities outside of the US and Europe, the most recent of which was China in mid-2020. Pipedrive would continue to operate as a separate entity from Vista. However, this partnership would help Pipedrive optimize its product portfolio and expand its customer base by continually investing in the company’s go-to-Market engine.

Pipedrive

Streak claims to be the only SME CRM app that integrates entirely within Gmail inboxes. It allows users to simultaneously create emails for mass mail, while maintaining a personal touch. It also has an email tracker and spreadsheet features.

Streak

Formerly known as ProsperWorks, Copper is a CRM platform built with Google Workspace integration, which helps users make notes, follow up, and close sales directly from their Gmail accounts. Copper became the recommended CRM on the Google Workspace Marketplace in 2015 and was named Google’s Partner of the Year in 2016.The company was rebranded Copper after five years of operation in July 2018. Along with the name change, the company simplified its product and enhanced its Google Workspace partnership.Copper claims that its clients on average have experienced a 30% improvement in sales reporting, a 35% decrease in the sales cycle period, and 36% better response time to customers. As of Q3 2018, Forbes noted that Copper was winning over Salesforce customers in the SME market segment, driven by its affordable price and ease of installation.In February 2021, Copper acquired Sherlock, an engagement analytics and scoring platform (deal value undisclosed). Copper plans to integrate Sherlock into its current platform to help customers identify the best times for sales conversion, ensure lasting revenue, and build stronger relationships. The merger is expected to fill the growing demand for CRM systems to provide insights that drive meaningful actions. In addition, the firm has entered into product integrations to extend the use case of its product offerings, culminating in the lauch of its <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13559">integration marketplace </a>in October 2022, providing users with access to 70+ integrations covering a variety of use cases including customer support, meeting scheduling, project management, and website tracking.Key customers and partnershipsAs of August 2022, Copper counted more than 30,000 paid customers in 100+ countries and supported nine languages. Apart from SME users, In 2019, Copper was found to be the number one CRM for small to medium sized advertising agencies, with more than 900 agency customers.Apart from its longstanding partnership with Google, Copper has its own partner program which it revamped alongside its rebranding to include higher margins (up to 30%) for resellers, focusing particularly on top-tier Google Workspace resellers to SMEs.Funding and financialsIn May 2019, the company raised USD 15 million in a Series C funding round, which it plans to use to further expand its market share in Europe, the Middle East, and African regions, where it currently generates around 30% of total revenue.

Copper

This type of CRM can also be known as Strategic CRM as it allows businesses to collect, organize and share valuable customer data among multiple teams across the company, which enables them to work coherently to increase customer lifetime value and thereby profitability. 
The two main aspects of Collaborative CRM are: 1) Interaction management, and 2) Channel management. The former allows businesses to analyze all customer interactions to proactively identify issues and resolve them efficiently. The latter enables businesses to identify and record the communication preferences of customers. This type of CRM is ideal for a business which has multiple departments and stakeholders, offices/branches in various locations and a heavy focus on customer data being transparent and easily accessible by everyone.

This type of CRM collates, stores and analyzes customer data, which includes basic information, marketing data, sales data and customer service records. Using this information, users can get a better idea of customer demand trends and purchase behaviour. Further, companies can track leads and identify which marketing campaigns generate the highest ROI. Sales data helps users identify which products/services are best sellers, seasonal trends, highest revenue generating sales representatives and most profitable locations. Moreover, service data helps businesses assess three main areas: customer service, customer satisfaction and employee performance. This type of CRM is ideal for companies which have sales processes driven by account management and end-users who value metrics and are encouraged by data transparency.

This type of CRM facilitates smooth business operations, by focusing on the automation of three main areas: sales, marketing and after-sales service. It automates the customer record creation process and daily tasks such as scheduling meetings, transitioning leads and generating sales reports. These CRMs also include marketing automation tools for complex email marketing campaigns. Customer service is also automated by the provision of self-service options via phone or laptop. This type of CRM is particularly useful for businesses involving heavy customer interaction.

Certain startups provide industry-specific solutions such as for hair salons and convenience stores

Provides cloud-based platforms and mobile access to CRM systems

Shore

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