Symend to Accelerate Global Expansion by Bringing Total Funding to-date to Over US$100 Million Following US$43 Million Series B Extension

Behavioral science and analytics company prepares for imminent global expansion and future additions to its engagement product portfolio to serve the entire customer lifecycle.

Symend, a leading digital engagement platform that uses behavioral science and data-driven insights to empower customers to resolve past due bills, announced a US$43 million extension following its US$52 million Series B in May 2020.

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“We are big believers in Symend’s mission to add lasting value to enterprises, by helping their customers avoid collections”

The Series B+ was led by global technology venture firm, Inovia Capital, with participation from a consortium of investors, bringing Symend’s total funding to date to over US$100 million.

“We are big believers in Symend’s mission to add lasting value to enterprises, by helping their customers avoid collections,” said Dennis Kavelman, Partner at Inovia Capital. “Their approach is differentiated and effective because it combines behavioral science and data science to drive a personalized approach for each customer. With this new investment, Symend is well funded to execute its strategy of scaling globally, and to partner with large enterprises in many industries.”

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Kavelman is also a former RIM (Blackberry) executive and current member of Symend’s board of directors. Symend welcomed two additional board members in 2020 including John Connors, Managing Partner at Ignition Partners and former Microsoft executive, and Matthew J. Schiltz, former CEO at Conga and DocuSign. Connors and Schiltz joined the board alongside Eric Updyke, CEO at Spirent Communications, and Maor Amar, Managing Partner at Impression Ventures.

Symend’s platform is purpose built to serve complex enterprises in telecommunications, financial services, utilities and media across North America and is on track to significantly expand its client roster globally in 2021. Symend recently opened an office in Australia to serve the Asia-Pacific (APAC) market, with plans to expand into Latin America (LATAM) and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Symend currently serves two-thirds of the major telecommunications providers in North America and is successfully serving a multinational bank, quickly gaining traction with other major players in financial services.

Symend validated the need for its solution along the entire customer journey by providing clients with rapid response capabilities through the COVID-19 pandemic. By relieving pressure from call centres overwhelmed by inquiries from uncertain customers, Symend created capacity for clients to respond to evolving customer needs when they needed it most.

Over the past year, Symend’s team of behavioral scientists, data scientists and data analysts have significantly strengthened its consumer data platform, which is foundational to its engagement platform. Through rigorous experimentation, Symend is continuously building an extensive library of proven behavioral-based engagement strategies shaped by in-depth customer insights to continuously optimize behavior. This will guide Symend’s product portfolio expansion as it further develops strategies in customer retention and acquisition.

“Given the challenges that service providers have faced during the pandemic, we are seeing a massive uptick in enterprises that are committed to investing in solutions that will ensure they are better prepared for the future, better the lives of their customers, and drive better business results for their core operations during both good and challenging times,” said Hanif Joshaghani, CEO at Symend.

Symend has rapidly accelerated recruitment, growing from 50 people to over 225 in 2020 and expects to double in size in 2021. The rapid growth of the team is led by Calgary success story Benevity’s former Chief People Officer, Vivian Farris, who joined Symend in September 2020. To support the expansion and restructuring of product and technology within the company, Symend attracted several senior executives from major hubs including the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and Chicago.

Corey Scobie was appointed Symend’s Chief Technology Officer following Progress Software’s US$220 million acquisition of Chef Software. PehKeong Teh, previously SVP, Marketing Cloud at Salesforce, was appointed Chief Product Officer. Matt LaHood, previously VP and Head of Custom Analytics for the Americas at FICO, was appointed SVP of Science and Analytics Services, leading behavioral science, data science and analytics.

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