Sanity Raises $39M to Revolutionize Content Repositories

The Evolving Landscape of Content Management

The conventional wisdom asserts that content is paramount. However, the potential of content is often constrained by the available tools for its presentation and utilization. This situation is undergoing a transformation, as evidenced by Sanity, a startup focused on streamlining content repurposing and leveraging data as content. The company recently announced $39 million in funding, driven by substantial demand for its innovative technology.

Securing Growth Capital

This funding round, a Series B, is spearheaded by ICONIQ Growth, the investment division of ICONIQ, which benefits from backing by prominent family offices, including that of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Additional investors include Lead Edge Capital, Threshold Ventures, Heavybit, and Alliance Venture, with some having previously participated in Sanity’s $9.3 million fundraise in October 2020.

Ev Williams, the founder of Blogger, Twitter, and Medium, was also an investor in the earlier round. This latest investment elevates Sanity’s total funding to $51.8 million. While the company has not disclosed its valuation, CEO and co-founder Magnus Hillestad, based in San Francisco (with a significant presence also in Oslo, Norway), expressed satisfaction with the amount secured.

Rapid User Adoption

This investment follows a period of significant growth for Sanity. The platform is currently utilized by nearly 100,000 developers, marketers, content creators, and product professionals. The company reports 30,000 active users, representing a doubling of the user base since October, as noted by Hillestad.

Notable customers include National Geographic, Puma, InVision, Datastax, and Brex, all of whom are employing Sanity to manage their content repositories and facilitate flexible information usage across various platforms.

The Rise of "Headless" Architecture

“Headless” technology has gained prominence across diverse sectors, including content management, commerce, and financial services. Organizations seeking to build websites without extensive investment in design can leverage platforms that manage both content and presentation.

However, some organizations prioritize customized experiences and opt for headless solutions. These systems automate and manage data in the backend while granting users the freedom to design tailored front-end interfaces.

Sanity's Vision: A Programmatic Approach

Hillestad believes that the emergence of headless services represents a crucial advancement, but Sanity aims to take extensibility a step further. The company’s platform enables dynamic content utilization without requiring separate system management.

“We are adopting a programmatic approach to content,” Hillestad stated. “Businesses now require not only marketing, product, or e-commerce experiences, but a convergence of all three.”

Content as Data, and Data as Content

He posits that businesses must deliver experiences to customers across all touchpoints. Sanity views data as content and content as data, offering companies a “content lake” – a structured yet schema-less repository. This concept mirrors data lakes, providing flexibility and adaptability.

This capability is significant because content is often siloed within systems designed for specific purposes, a limitation inherent in many traditional and even headless CMS solutions. This siloed approach hinders repurposing, introduces inefficiencies, and strains business resources.

Future Development and Potential

Currently, Sanity has limitations, notably in facilitating seamless translations between different media formats like audio and print. However, addressing this gap appears to be a logical next step for the company, given the increasing consumer habit of switching between media formats.

This expansion could also unlock opportunities to explore broader definitions of “media,” a topic also being actively considered by companies like WaitWhat.

Investor Perspective

“In today’s digitally globalized world, companies must swiftly deliver complex, multichannel, and engaging digital experiences to connect with customers wherever they may be. This necessitates a reevaluation of the traditional CMS,” said Doug Pepper, general partner at ICONIQ Growth, who will be joining the board. “Sanity has developed a leading product for building innovative product experiences, with a strong developer focus on content delivery and a personalized approach that breaks down silos between content creators, marketing, and development teams. We are excited to support Sanity’s team as they move into this next phase of growth.”