Sales Enablement Automation Debuts on the 2019 Forbes Cloud 100

SAN DIEGO, CA (September 11, 2019) – Seismic, the recognized leader in sales and marketing enablement, has been named to the Forbes 2019 Cloud 100, the definitive ranking of the top 100 private cloud companies in the world, published by Forbes in partnership with Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures.

This is the first year a sales enablement automation company has been awarded a position on the Forbes Cloud 100 ranking. In recent years, sales enablement has gained recognition as a necessity for solving challenges around sales and marketing misalignment, content personalization at scale, and the ability to act on data-driven marketing and sales insights. In fact, the Seismic-commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting, The State of Enterprise Sales Enablement, 2019, found that one of the biggest differences between organizations that hit revenue goals and those that don’t is the organization’s ability to take advantage of sales enablement ‘insights’ as part of a mature sales strategy.

Seismic’s ranking in the 2019 Forbes Cloud 100, in addition to other recent industry accolades, such as being named a 2019 Sales and Marketing Technology Award Winner by the Business Intelligence Group, indicates sales enablement’s importance, and Seismic’s leadership position in the category.

“Having gone from our first round of funding in 2013, to being named to the 2019 Forbes Cloud 100 list, is incredibly humbling,” said Doug Winter, CEO and co-founder, Seismic. “So much of where Seismic and the sales enablement industry is today can be attributed to our outstanding customers. Enterprises and fast-growing companies across financial services, high-tech, manufacturing, and many other industries, are successfully using Seismic as a cornerstone of their go-to-market strategies. In doing so, they’re expanding the global importance of sales enablement, and are hugely to thank for Seismic receiving the honor of being named one of the best private cloud companies in the world.”

As part of the rigorous selection process for the Forbes 2019 Cloud 100, Bessemer Venture Partners received submissions from hundreds of cloud startups. The Cloud 100 Judging Panel, made up of public cloud company CEOs, reviewed the data to select, score, and rank the top 100 private cloud companies from all over the world. The evaluation process involved ranking companies across four factors: market leadership (35%), estimated valuation (30%), operating metrics (20%), and people & culture (15%).

“The private cloud ecosystem has matured, making the competition to land one of the coveted spots on the Cloud 100 list steeper than ever,” said Byron Deeter, a top cloud investor, and partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “In fact, the average valuation of a company on our inaugural list just four years ago was $1 billion, while the average valuation on this year’s list spiked to $1.7 billion. Our 2019 Cloud 100 includes over 60 private cloud unicorns! These founders represent the absolute best in cloud computing today, and they will most certainly follow in the footsteps of our esteemed Cloud 100 alumni. In total, already 25 Cloud 100 alumni have gone public, and dozens have been acquired for over $1 billion each. Congratulations to these cloud leaders!”

“There has been tremendous growth in the cloud market in recent years, as more and more companies are adopting cloud technologies to enable their digital transformation and change how they do business. The opportunity is massive in the cloud sector, which is evident in both the public and private sectors. There are now more than 15 public SaaS companies valued at over $10B whereas even 5 years ago there were only 2,” said Matt Garratt, Managing Partner, Salesforce Ventures. “The growth we are seeing is not limited to the Bay Area and San Francisco, as we are seeing more $1B+ cloud companies spring up throughout the U.S. and globally. Salesforce Ventures is excited to be partnering with Bessemer Venture Partners and Forbes for the fourth year in a row to recognize the next generation companies who will land on the Cloud 100 list—those who are not just predicting what’s coming but working to create the future.”

“For four years now, we have ranked the best and brightest emerging companies in the cloud sector,” said Alex Konrad, Forbes editor of The Cloud 100. “With so many businesses growing fast in the cloud, from cybersecurity and marketing to data analytics and storage, it’s harder than ever to make the Cloud 100 list – but with more elite company if you do. Congratulations to each of the 2019 Cloud 100 honorees and the 20 Rising Stars honorees poised to join their ranks!”

The Forbes 2019 Cloud 100 and 20 Rising Stars lists are published online at www.forbes.com/cloud100 and will appear in the September 2019 issue of Forbes magazine.

Each year the CEOs of The Cloud 100 and the 20 Rising Stars companies are honored at the exclusive Cloud 100 Celebration hosted by Bessemer Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, and Forbes. A special thank you to our sponsors Amazon Web Services (AWS), Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Cooley, FuelxMcKinsey, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Nasdaq, Qatalyst Partners, and Silicon Valley Bank who make this event possible.

About Seismic

Seismic is the recognized leader in sales and marketing enablement, equipping global sales teams with the knowledge, messaging, and automatically personalized content proven to be the most effective for any buyer interaction. Powerful content intelligence and analytics enable marketers to prove and improve their impact on the bottom line, revealing what is really driving revenue and what needs to be adjusted. The result for global enterprises like IBM, American Express, PayPal, and Quest Diagnostics is better win rates, larger deals, and higher customer retention. Seismic is headquartered in San Diego with additional offices in North America, Europe, and Australia.

To see how Seismic is being used by companies in your industry, visit seismic.com.

Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer Venture Partners is the world’s most experienced early-stage venture capital firm. With a portfolio of more than 200 companies, Bessemer helps visionary entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to create companies that matter, and supports them through every stage of their growth. The firm has backed more than 120 IPOs, including Pinterest, Shopify, Yelp, LinkedIn, Skype, LifeLock, Twilio, SendGrid, PagerDuty, DocuSign, Wix, and MindBody. Bessemer’s 15 partners operate from offices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Israel, and India. For more information, please visit www.bvp.com.

About Forbes

The defining voice of entrepreneurial capitalism, Forbes champions success by celebrating those who have made it, and those who aspire to make it. Forbes convenes and curates the most-influential leaders and entrepreneurs who are driving change, transforming business and making a significant impact on the world. The Forbes brand today reaches more than 120 million people worldwide through its trusted journalism, signature LIVE events, custom marketing programs and 40 licensed local editions in 70 countries. Forbes Media’s brand extensions include real estate, education and financial services license agreements. For more information, visit: https://www.forbes.com/forbes-media/.

Salesforce Ventures

Salesforce is the fastest growing top five enterprise software company and the #1 CRM provider globally. Salesforce Ventures—the company’s corporate investment group—invests in the next generation of enterprise technology that extends the power of the Salesforce Customer Success Platform, helping companies connect with their customers in entirely new ways. Portfolio companies receive funding as well as access to the world’s largest cloud ecosystem and the guidance of Salesforce’s innovators and executives. With Salesforce Ventures, portfolio companies can also leverage Salesforce’s expertise in corporate philanthropy by joining Pledge 1% to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce Ventures has invested in more than 300 enterprise cloud startups in 20 different countries since 2009. For more information, please visit www.salesforce.com/ventures.

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Media Contact

Stephanie Jackman
Public Relations Manager, Seismic
[email protected]