Press Release

Propel Announces $20 Million Series C to Help Manufacturers Deliver Long Term Customer Engagement

September 21, 2021

Company is scaling life sciences and high-tech industry solutions that put customers at the center of the product experience.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., September 21, 2021  – Propel, the modern way to take products from concept to customer, today announced it has raised $20 million in Series C financing. The investment is led by Salesforce Ventures, with participation from existing investors Norwest Venture Partners, Cloud Apps Capital Partners, Green D Ventures and TIFF. The existing investors are joined by new investor Ankona Capital, a venture capital firm with experience in both supply chain and scaling enterprise B2B SaaS solutions. The company has raised a total of $48 million in funding to date.

With this new round of funding, Propel will continue its development of Product 360 - the only unified quality management (QMS), product lifecycle management (PLM) and commercialization solution built on Salesforce. By connecting product, quality, customer and supplier information in a single platform, Product 360 helps manufacturers launch products faster, simplify quality and compliance, and improve their employee user experience. This comprehensive approach is ideal for industries where success relies on getting high quality products to market fast, such as high tech, health and life sciences, consumer, and automotive suppliers.

Propel’s Product 360 also supports high growth and enterprise businesses launching recurring revenue models that rely on long term customer engagement after the initial product sale. Enterprise-wide collaboration coupled with real time data allows companies to be more responsive to their customers, respond to unforeseen events faster, and make the right decisions. 

“Now more than ever, new business models require faster innovation, supply chain resiliency, and global sales models to succeed,” said Ray Hein, CEO of Propel. “Progressive business and IT leaders recognize the need to put the customer at the center of the product experience. That’s why companies like Cisco, Guardant, Henry Schein, HP, Teladoc and Traeger have invested in Propel this year.”

“Industry solutions are really resonating with our customers because they deliver industry-specific capabilities with a simple and easy-to-use IT stack”, said Cindy Bolt, SVP Manufacturing, Automotive, Energy, Travel, Transportation, & Hospitality at Salesforce Industries. “This approach has been successful in financial services, communications, media, and insurance. The manufacturing and life sciences industries are quickly demanding these capabilities to evolve their businesses to respond to new market demands.”

“The increase in demand for Propel from mid-market and enterprise companies shows the market is using Propel to help drive revenue growth by enabling new customer engagement models,” said Jared Smith, General Partner with Ankona Capital. “They’re poised for growth, and we look forward to helping Propel capitalize on this unique market opportunity.”

For more information about Propel, visit propelplm.com.

Propel

Propel enables Product 360, the modern way to take products from concept to customer. Born in the cloud and built on Salesforce, Propel helps manufacturers collaborate across the entire value chain to get the right products to market faster and at a higher margin. Companies of all types trust Propel to achieve product success, from hyper-growth startups like Desktop Metal, Imperative Care, and Inari Medical, to established innovators like Traeger, Simplisafe, and Vizio, to Fortune 500 companies like Shell and Zoetis. For more information, visit propelplm.com and follow us on LinkedIn

Salesforce Ventures

Salesforce is the global leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), bringing companies closer to their customers in the digital age. Salesforce Ventures, the global investment arm of Salesforce, invests in the next generation of enterprise technology that extends the power of the Salesforce Platform. Salesforce Ventures is building the world's largest ecosystem of enterprise cloud companies and extending that technology to customers. Portfolio companies receive funding, strategic advisory, and operating support, and can easily join Pledge 1% to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce Ventures has invested in more than 400 companies, including DocuSign, GoCardless, Guild Education, nCino, Twilio, Zoom, and others across 22 countries since 2009. For more information, please visit salesforce.com/ventures.

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For more information, contact: 

Samantha Chapman @ samantha@chapmancommunicationsgroup.com