CaptivateIQ Raises $100M to Revolutionize Sales Commission Plans

CaptivateIQ Secures $100 Million Series C Funding

Just under ten months following a $46 million Series B raise, CaptivateIQ has announced a successful $100 million Series C funding round. This new investment values the company at $1.25 billion.

Revenue Growth and Investment Details

The San Francisco-based startup has developed a no-code SaaS platform designed to facilitate the creation of customized sales commission plans. According to the company, revenue has “more than tripled” year-over-year, though specific figures were not disclosed.

ICONIQ Growth, alongside existing investors Sequoia and Accel, co-led CaptivateIQ’s latest financing. Sapphire Ventures participated as a new investor, bringing the total funding raised to $164.6 million.

Expanding Customer Base

CaptivateIQ’s clientele encompasses “hundreds of organizations” spanning various industries and continents. Notably, over a quarter of the companies featured in Forbes’ Cloud 100 are customers, alongside firms like Affirm, Amplitude, ClassPass, and Podium.

Origins and the ICM Landscape

Founded in the winter of 2017, CaptivateIQ emerged from Y Combinator’s Winter 2018 cohort. The company is positioned within a growing wave of Incentive Compensation Management (ICM) solutions.

These solutions aim to automate and streamline the often “complex” process of designing, administering, and reporting sales commissions, as explained by co-founder and co-CEO Mark Schopmeyer.

The Challenge of Sales Compensation

Sales compensation represents a substantial go-to-market investment for most B2B companies, making accurate commission calculations crucial. However, managing these commissions can be exceptionally difficult.

Companies have historically faced a choice between manually maintained, error-prone spreadsheets and expensive, inflexible legacy systems.

Limitations of Traditional Systems

Schopmeyer argues that traditional legacy solutions often lack the versatility to accommodate diverse commission structures. Furthermore, they typically require users to possess specialized programming skills.

These systems can also be financially burdensome, with implementation costs frequently exceeding six figures.

CaptivateIQ’s Approach

CaptivateIQ aims to overcome these challenges by combining the adaptability of spreadsheets with the scalability and efficiency of modern software. This allows for the configuration of commission plans with minimal technical support.

Co-CEO Conway Teng previously highlighted the complexity of commission calculations, comparing them to a sophisticated form of payroll. Each company possesses a unique plan involving numerous calculations and data points.

Moreover, the increasing availability of data enables companies to incentivize employees based on a wider range of performance metrics.

Future Plans and Team Growth

Currently, CaptivateIQ is focused on growth, prioritizing investment in product development, research and development (R&D), and team expansion, according to Schopmeyer.

The company’s headcount has grown to over 200 employees, a significant increase from the approximately 90 employees at the time of its Series B round in April 2021.

Market Opportunity

ICONIQ Growth General Partner Doug Pepper believes the market opportunity within sales commissions is “enormous.”

He stated that, unlike spreadsheets and legacy systems, CaptivateIQ offers both power and flexibility, adapting to evolving compensation plans and scaling organizations. The platform also maintains the intuitive familiarity of spreadsheet features.

The Rise of No-Code Platforms

The no-code movement is gaining momentum. Walnut, a company specializing in sales and marketing demo experiences, recently secured $35 million in Series B funding.

Similarly, Softr, a Berlin-based startup enabling app development on top of Airtable databases, raised $13.5 million in a Series A round.