Icertis has raised a new $80 million investment round, pushing its valuation to $2.8 billion, up from $1.1 billion in 2019.
The Seattle-area startup sells contract management software across 90 countries. The idea is to help companies keep track of deals with suppliers and customers, and negotiate better contracts by highlighting ways to save money or move faster.
Customers include Apple, BestBuy, Hanes, Johnson & Johnson, Google, and Microsoft. Icertis estimates the total addressable market at $20 billion, growing at 35% year-over-year.
Icertis said its total revenue is “far north” of $100 million. It is seeing accelerated growth despite competition from an array of companies such as DocuSign, SAP and Oracle and smaller firms with more of a microscope on contracts such as Conga and ContractWorks. Icertis was named as a market leader in Forrester’s recent report on the Contract Management Lifecycle category.
“We’re eminently well-positioned to continue our undisputed leadership,” CEO Samir Bodas said in a statement.
Icertis employs 1,400 people worldwide, including about 200 in the Seattle area.
Existing backer B Capital Group led the Series F round, with participation from Greycroft, Meritech
Total funding to date is now $280 million. Icertis last raised cash in July 2019 with a $115 million round. It won “Deal of the Year” honors at the GeekWire Awards in 2018 after raising its $50 million Series D round.
As part of the new funding, Icertis added two new board members: Penny Pritzker, founder and chairman of PSP Partners and former U.S. secretary of commerce; and Karyn Smith, general counsel at Twilio.
Icertis is one of ten unicorns, or companies valued at $1 billion or more, in the Seattle region. Several companies such as Highspot, Rad Power Bikes, Tanium, Zenoti and others have raised large rounds recently. The amount of venture capital flowing to Pacific Northwest tech startups hit new records last year, and the pace doesn’t appear to be slowing anytime soon.
As the COVID-19 pandemic accelerates adoption of digital technology, the spotlight is shining brighter on the robust business-to-business technology ecosystem in Seattle and across the region.
Startups that sell to other businesses — such as Icertis — make up more than half of the GeekWire 200 list, our ranking of top privately-held Pacific Northwest technology companies, and 70% of the top 20. Icertis is ranked No. 5 on the list.
Bodas is a Microsoft veteran who spent seven years at the tech giant in the 1990s and gave presentations directly to Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. He helped start Icertis in 2009 with Monish Darda, a former exec at BladeLogic.
Speaking to GeekWire event last year about how companies navigated the COVID-19 crisis, Bodas shed light on Icertis’ strategy of focusing on the “four rings.”
“Right now, we are thinking of what we do now as the Four Rings of Responsibility: My Ring: #takecareofself; The Family Ring: #takecareoffamily; The Community Ring: #takecareofcommunity; The Business Ring: #takecareofbusiness,” he noted.
Bodas said Icertis focused on helping customers understand new pandemic-related challenges around contracts.
Speaking at a TiE Seattle event in Seattle in 2019, Bodas explained how he realized the importance of company culture:
“One thing I didn’t appreciate, that I appreciate more now, is how much culture matters. When I came out of business school, I thought culture was all BS. I thought it was all about making money, and as long as you put enough money in people’s pockets, they will take the pain. That’s absolutely wrong. To be able to articulate that culture through your values, and knowing how those values are used in action and how you live them — it makes a huge difference for people.”
