WalkMe, a digital adoption platform (DAP) that helps companies integrate user-centric product walkthroughs into their software, has raised $40 million in a series F round of funding led by Insight Venture Partners, with participation from Mangrove Capital Partners.
Founded in 2011, San Francisco-based WalkMe is a software-as-a-service platform that helps software makers make their websites and applications easier to use, with the likes of tip-balloon overlays serving to highlight key features of a specific piece of software. The WalkMe platform also leverages artificial intelligence to make contextual suggestions based on how a user is interacting with an interface.
These kinds of tools can be used to help onboard new customers, for example, or train employees in using new software. The company claims around 2,000 clients, which it says represents 30 percent of the Fortune 500, including well-known brands such as PayPal.
Prior to now, WalkMe had raised $167 million, and with another $40 million in the bank it said that it plans to expand globally and localize its product for new markets including Asia Pacific (APAC) and Europe. The company didn’t reveal a valuation; however, it did say that it was “much higher” than the estimate that did the rounds for its series E round. That estimate, for the record, was $935 million, according to researchers cited by TechCrunch at the time, meaning that WalkMe is almost certainly now a bona fide unicorn.
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“Digital transformation holds great promise, which is why most organizations today are highly engaged in their efforts,” noted WalkMe cofounder and CEO Dan Adika. “While the potential is huge, expectations are not met due to a reality of poor user adoption. Our customers are leveraging WalkMe’s digital adoption platform to ensure their business transformation goals and expectations are met and exceeded. This latest round of funding will help us grow at an even faster rate globally, while ensuring our leadership position in creating and forging the digital adoption category.”
This raise comes just a week after Raleigh-based Pendo closed a $50 million round of funding, taking its total funding past the $100 million mark — Pendo offers some similar functionality to that of WalkMe, including on-screen product walkthroughs. So it’s clear that there is an appetite for this kind of technology.
“WalkMe pioneered and developed the digital adoption platform, with a bold vision of transforming the way users interact with technology, just like navigation systems (GPS) changed the way we drive,” added Mangrove Capital Partners partner Roy Saar. “With WalkMe, users no longer need to learn or recall how to use any software, application or websites. Although we are traditionally an early stage investor, we decided to take part in WalkMe’s growth round because we are witnessing how more and more of WalkMe’s customers see WalkMe as a strategic enabler of their digital transformation.”
WalkMe currently counts more than 650 employees across its seven offices in the U.S., Europe, and APAC. The company confirmed that it plans to go public sometime in the next 18 months, market conditions permitting.
