Sendinblue announces new fundraising of $160M with Bridgepoint Development Capital, BPI Large Cap. Previous-round investor Partech remains as an equity partner. Positioned since 2017 as an all-in-one marketing and sales solution for SMBs, covering channels such as email, SMS, marketing automation, sales management and live chat, Sendinblue is established as a world leader in digital marketing.
Founded in 2012 by Armand Thiberge, the company boasts a spotless record, achieving 60% growth year over year and a $55M turnover. As Europe debates its own technological sovereignty, Sendinblue, a nominee on prestigious French Tech Next40 list, now embodies a future European giant Twitter
A smart and intuitive CRM platform for SMBs
Sendinblue has made it its mission to build a smart and intuitive platform that meets the specific needs of small and medium businesses, regardless of their size or industry.
The recent economic context has confirmed the need for this type of business, especially the most local and traditional ones, to accelerate on their digitalisation efforts. As such, Sendinblue achieved over 50% growth between March and June 2020 (during the lockdown period) and now has 180,000 customers across over 160 countries. “SendInBlue is fast becoming the European-leading digital-marketing platform for SMBs, and Partech is very excited to continue the journey with the company” added Bruno Cremel, General Partner at Partech.
Initially focused on email marketing, the scale-up has adapted to an increasing demand from businesses for an online acquisition and loyalty tool.
For example, clients can start by sending newsletters, then go further with complex marketing automation scenarios or a chat tool that integrates into their website. These tools are incredibly accessible and don’t require any technical knowledge, meaning Sendinblue appeals to a wide range of companies (from a restaurant to an architectural firm, ecommerce site or even a manufacturing group). Over 50% of their team is currently dedicated to these innovations. This fundraising will support their efforts to allow more SMBs to increase their revenue using digital.
Strengthening its global positioning
With 70% of its revenue generated abroad, Sendinblue intends to accelerate its international development. This new fundraising will allow it to increase its external growth activities to enrich its value proposition as well as to gain foothold on new markets. As such, Sendinblue has just opened its first office in Toronto, reinforcing its presence in its number one market: North America. The goal by 2025: achieve $220M turnover!
This vision was particularly appealing to Olivier Nemsguern, Partner at Bridgepoint:
“Sendinblue is well positioned in a market experiencing high growth. An increasing number of SMBs are turning to digital, we saw this during lockdown. In addition, the company’s track record and performance are remarkable. After an in-depth financial audit over several weeks, we identified Sendinblue as the highest performer in this market.”
Establishing itself as the guardian of European digital sovereignty
As the new European leader since the acquisition of its German competitor N2GO, Sendinblue is the only solution whose headquarters and data centers are located in Europe.
For Armand Thiberge, founder of Sendinblue, European digital sovereignty is a social issue for European citizens: “Sendinblue is an opportunity for SMBs to develop their activity using digital levers. With recent GDPR regulations, it’s crucial to build an independent European ecosystem that guarantees data privacy. This is one of the reasons why I was keen for BPI to become an equity partner.”
Louis Mollis, Partner at BPI, shares this vision: “We invest in high-potential, innovative companies, so it was obvious to us that we should support one of our French jewels, especially one that does so well globally! We’re proud to stand with them to develop a European giant.”
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