Seattle-based Moz, a 12-year-old maker of marketing software, has landed $10 million in fresh funding that it will use to accelerate product offerings. The pre-money valuation on the round was $120 million, up from $75 million when the company raised its series B financing round in 2012. Total funding in the company now stands at $29.1 million.
“This round of financing allows us to build on the momentum we’ve started by growing our new product lines, and kicking Moz Pro and Moz Local up a notch. In the year ahead, we’ll use the money for growth initiatives, like marketing, experimenting our way to product/market fit, and adding sales and account management folks,” wrote Moz CEO Sarah Bird in a blog post.
Foundry Group, an existing investor in the company, provided all of the capital in the new round.
Things have not always been easy for Moz, which changed its name from SEOmoz in 2013. About that time, things unraveled a bit at the company, with Bird noting in the blog post that “we’ve soared and stumbled along the way.”
“Late 2013 and early 2014, in particular, tested our mettle. We struggled through a brutal product launch and a bunch of scaling challenges,” she wrote. “We made mistakes large and small, a few of which we’re still working to resolve.”
Even so, Bird said that Moz is getting back on track, one of the reasons why Foundry Group was excited to take the whole round. She said they spent 2015 building new products and new engineering platforms, ending the year with five products, including a revamped Moz Local product. In the past 21 months, Bird said that Moz Local has generated $5.7 million in cash, with 60,000 business locations now using the software to manage information across the Web.
In total, Moz posted revenue of $38 million last year. As a result of the financing round, Brad Feld of Foundry Group is leaving the board, and his business partner, Seth Levine, is joining. The company, which now employs 190 employees, hired 50 people in the fourth quarter of 2015.
“I have ambitious goals for Moz and it feels fantastic to get more support on our journey,” wrote Bird.
She added:
I want to create something lasting and meaningful. We have an ambitious mission. We help organizations transform the way they market to match how people want to engage, learn, and shop.
Editor’s note: Moz is a GeekWire annual sponsor.
