Seattle startup Apptentive has raised $5.3 million in funding, bringing in the capital from lead investor SurveyMonkey as well as existing investors such as Founder’s Co-op and Golden Ventures. As a result of the deal, Damon Cronkey of SurveyMonkey is joining the board.
Apptentive makes tools to help mobile app makers hold onto customers, and boost reviews. Clients include Urbanspoon, Cheezburger, Glympse, INRIX and others, with those companies using Apptentive to determine the best time at which to prompt mobile app users with rating information.
CEO Robi Ganguly said that the fresh funds will be used to grow the team — currently 14 employees — and spur product development.
“It’s been a good two years of really learning from the marketplace and learning what the needs are,” Ganguly said today. “We have a much more comprehensive understanding of what we’ll need to build and who to add to our team.”
Apptentive says it powers more than five million in-app customers interactions each month. Ganguly noted that clients are now asking for help not only related to customer interactions with mobile apps, but various others places where they have any type of software between them and users.
“Around the world, companies are doing a lot more to listen to customers and talk to them in a personal way,” he explained. “Consumers have such a voice now, and more and more customers are coming to us to be apart of that.”
Here is Ganguly pitching the original concept at the TechStars Demo Day in 2012.
