Influ2, a business to business (B2B) ad technology startup company, achieved a net revenue expansion of over 100% from 2019 to 2020. The high growth startup company has $3.4 million in total funding. The company has grown through 2020 even though some large businesses like Coca Cola cut their advertising spending last year. Influ2 helps B2B marketers advertise to specific decision-makers in businesses.
Venture Capital Investors and Angels Support
Influ2 has grown with support from venture capital investors Venture Friends and One Way Ventures. “Angel investors like Murat Abdrakhmanov and Peter Harrison, former CEO of GlobalLogic, have invested in the company,” co-founder and CEO of Influ2, Dmitri Lisitski, said in an interview with Startup Savant.
Abdrakhmanov has invested in other startup businesses such as Skyworker (a company that helps with recruitment) and HR Messenger (an AI company in the recruitment field). Peter Harrison, currently CEO of Snagajob, has also invested in 7shifts, a startup company that helps restaurants find works. Snagajob is a startup with 100 million registered users and 700,000 employers.
“Our total round of seed funding from investors was 3.4M, which was the largest amount secured in the history of account-based marketing,” added Lisitski. According to Capterra, a business software review website, 62 account-based marketing software products are on the market.
Influ2’s Customer List Includes Large Businesses
Influ2’s approach to account-based marketing has already made it a hit with several large companies. The startup’s account customer list is particularly strong in the technology industry. “Our customers include businesses like NVIDIA, Cato Networks, Hexaware, Sage Intact, Capgemini, Optimove, and Amplitude,” commented Lisitski. NVIDIA (stock ticker: NASDAQ: NVDA) is a global technology company with $10.92 billion in 2020. Cato Networks is an enterprise networking company based in Israel valued at more than $1 billion.
Pandemic Fuels Increased Digital Marketing Growth
In 2020, an industry survey found that total advertising spending fell by 8%, while digital marketing spending increased by 1.2%. The ongoing increase in businesses and business owners shifting resources to digital marketing has helped Influ2 to grow.
“During economic downturns, marketing budgets tend to get cut, and we were concerned that our clients were either going to reduce their spend or stop their work with us. The opposite happened because people had to pivot and move to an entirely digital marketing strategy as that was the only available channel for marketers,” explains Lisitski in an interview.
How Influ2 Plans to Grow in 2021
Influ2’s founder is optimistic about growth continuing into 2021. “We plan to bring in some key executive hires in Sales and Marketing at the VP level. Also, we’re going to continue to expand our sales development and customer success teams,” commented Lisitski during the interview.
The startup company currently has 36 employees, with the majority based in Ukraine, according to LinkedIn. The company also has 14 employees in the United States (US).