Raleigh-based software company Pendo raised $100 million in a new round of funding, bringing total capital invested in the company to $206 million. With the new injection of cash, Pendo has reached “unicorn” status, defined as a $1 billion private market valuation.
Participants in the funding include long-time Pendo investor, California-based Sapphire Ventures, which led the round, and new investors General Atlantic, based in Connecticut, and Tiger Global in New York.
Pendo develops and markets software that allows digital product teams to better understand how customers use software to interact online, or “why customers come back and what drives them away,” according to CEO and co-founder Todd Olson. The company is growing rapidly, with year-over-year bookings up 108% in this year’s second quarter. Customers include Verizon, ADP, LabCorp and Salesforce. The latest round of funding will be used to accelerate growth and product development, the company said.
According to the Crunchbase website, there were 498 unicorns worldwide as of September 2019, valued at $1.8 trillion. Other North Carolina-based companies with a valuation of $1 billion or more include Epic Games in Cary, valued at more than $14 billion, and AvidXchange and Tresata, both based in Charlotte.
The company employs more than 375 people and is planning to occupy the top five floors of a new downtown Raleigh office tower that will open in 2021. That space will accommodate as many as 800 people. Pendo ranked 73rd on this year’s Inc. 500 list with revenue growth topping 4,200% over the last three years.
One of Pendo’s new investors, Tiger Global, is affiliated with Tiger Management, the New York-based investment firm started by North Carolina native Julian Robertson, described by Bloomberg as a “hedge fund legend.”