Gong.io, the conversation intelligence platform, is somewhat of an innovator. It leverages AI to go beyond CRM and transform sales teams.
Furthering this commitment, it has announced that it has raised $40m in Series B funding, bringing the company’s total funding to $68m.
The latest round was led by global investment firm Battery Ventures and Battery general partner Dharmesh Thakker. Thakker will join Gong’s board of directors. Existing investors Norwest Venture partners, Shlomo Kramer, Wing Venture Capital, NextWorld Capital, and Cisco Investments also participated in the round.
“We believe Gong’s technology is the most significant development for sales since the invention of CRM in the previous century,” said Amit Bendov, Gong CEO and co-founder. “Before Gong, companies were blind to customer realities and were managing with no real data.”
Bendov, who previously served in senior roles with Battery-backed companies Panaya and SiSense, added: “We have achieved success because we’re able to add much-needed intelligence missing from existing CRM systems. We will use the funding to invest heavily in engineering to fulfil our long-term product vision as well as expand support, sales, and marketing.”
Practical AI
Gong uses AI to turn phone, video and text conversations into important information that companies can use to coach customer-facing teams, increase win rates and improve strategic decision-making.
The platform, according to Gong, becomes smarter as it analyses more data, ensuring learnings are refined deal after deal. This is how AI works, after all.
How AI is completely changing enterprise sales
Transform sales
The Gong platform has particular benefits for sales. The technology can help sales leaders at companies — ranging from enterprise to fast-growing start-ups, such as LinkedIn, GE, Drift and ZipRecruiter — to achieve success by providing a realistic look at what their best people are doing (from the specific terms they use in sales pitches, to how they structure their calls).
According to the announcement: ‘The platform alerts sales leaders exactly when their help is needed and when they should step in to save a deal. Tens of thousands of salespeople across hundreds of sales teams currently rely on Gong.’
Battery general partner Dharmesh Thakker said: “95% of what happens in sales conversations today gets lost, and the other 5% of information is biased or no longer applicable. Deals today require data science to win. By leveraging voice-enabled technology — just like Alexa for business — Gong completely transforms CRM through AI and machine learning. It takes a complete view of information and makes it relevant, personalised, and actionable, as a slew of Fortune 1000 customers can already attest.”
“We are very excited to assist Gong in bringing digital transformation to sales teams, and are very impressed with Gong’s fast growth, market traction, and enthused customer base,” added Itzik Parnafes, Battery general partner.
