Marketo Raises $8 Million In Series B Funding, Set To Drive Expansion

Lead management software vendor Marketo announced that it has secured $8 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Storm Ventures, with participation from existing investor InterWest Partners. The funding is earmarked to expand sales and marketing in North America and internationally, continue to fuel Marketo’s product pipeline, and invest in customer operations and services.

Marketo has signed more than 60 customers in less than five months since its March 2008 launch, including companies such as Thomson Reuters, Trimble, and Acteva. The company’s demand generation solutions are designed to automate and measure lead management activities — including email marketing, lead nurturing, and lead scoring — to help marketing and sales generate and qualify sales leads, shorten sales cycles and demonstrate results.

Marketo’s CEO and president Phil Fernandez said the new round of funding will allow the company to keep up with its rapid growth curve. “We have seen our business accelerate dramatically since our launch earlier this year, and it seems like the pace is picking up every day,” said Fernandez. “The marketing automation space is ready to explode because companies are realizing that aligning sales and marketing can have a powerful positive impact on customer acquisition, retention and revenue. With Storm’s involvement, as well as the continued support from InterWest, we’ll be able to take our vision and operations to the next level and continue to set the industry standard with the most innovative and easy-to-use marketing automation products available.”

Tae Hea Nahm, founding general partner with Storm Ventures, said the company selected Marketo based on the strength of the market as well as its unique positioning.
“We’ve done extensive market research to determine the best opportunities, and Marketo is clearly the hottest company in the hot and exponentially-growing marketing automation category,” said, Hean Nahm, who also joined Marketo’s Board of Directors.

Bruce Cleveland, a partner with InterWest Partners and the former senior VP & GM of products and marketing for Siebel Systems, added that the new round of funding should improve Marketo’s position in the increasingly competitive marketing automation sector.“Marketo’s vision extends well beyond marketing software; it’s about driving growth by aligning companies around a single revenue cycle and providing fast, tangible business value,” Cleveland said. “We’ve seen Marketo add customers and scale their business at an incredible rate while developing new products and features faster than any of their competitors. It’s obvious that the time is right for Marketo, and they are ready to break out as the dominant player in the marketing automation space.”