- Swell — a customer engagement platform for local businesses — announced recently that it raised an $8 million round of funding. These are the details.
Swell — a customer engagement platform for local businesses — announced recently that it raised an $8 million round of funding. This round of funding was led by SkyLab Ventures with support from Teamworthy and Swell’s current investors including Cultivation Capital. This round of funding comes following Swell’s triple-digit year-over-year growth and the release of the latest version of their customer engagement platform.
The Swell platform essentially makes it easy for local businesses to engage with customers, gather online reviews, and even schedule appointments online. And on average, Swell users increase customer reviews over 300% in the first year.
Tech veteran Benson Metcalf – who held executive positions at Pluralsight and SaltStack and currently serves as CEO of SkyLab Ventures – will advise Swell and represent SkyLab on the Swell board of directors.
KEY QUOTES:
“Despite the challenges presented to everyone in 2020, we still managed to quadruple our team, release a new version of our platform, and continue to grow our customer base. It’s clearer than ever that local businesses need tools like Swell to help them adapt to changes and engage with customers and prospects. This round will position us for the next growth stage of Swell by letting us expand our leadership team, enter new verticals, and add some next-level features to the Swell platform.”
— Drew Sparks, CEO and co-founder of Swell
“The last year really solidifies how much local businesses count on tools like Swell and our growth is proof. Even when businesses were cutting costs due to COVID-19, they kept Swell because it helped them adapt. We’re glad we could help so many businesses pivot to a digital approach and empower them to engage with and acquire new customers, even in the face of a rapidly changing world.”
— Swell CRO and co-founder Zeke Kuch
“Swell understands that automating customer engagement is the future of business, and they’ve shown leadership in this space even as the world wrestled with a pandemic. Investing in Swell was an easy decision because their platform provides lots of value to local businesses, which are all eager for technology to help them grow. We’re excited to work with the Swell team as they continue their growth trajectory.”
— Benson Metcalf – who is advising Swell and represent SkyLab on the Swell board of directors
“Swell has done a fantastic job since we invested in them a little over a year ago. We see more potential growth for them, so we felt it was wise to strengthen our relationship with them.”
— John True, General Partner at Cultivation Capital
