Software maker ClickUp reaches US$1b value in funding round

[SAN FRANCISCO] Workplace productivity software startup ClickUp was valued at US$1 billion in a US$100 million investment, roughly five times its valuation in a funding round earlier this year.

The new round was led by Georgian, a Canadian venture capital firm, with participation from Craft Ventures, which had invested earlier, too. San Diego-based ClickUp is one of several workplace software companies whose growth has accelerated because of remote work during the coronavirus pandemic.

ClickUp sees itself as a competitor to companies such as Asana, Wrike and Airtable. Its clients include Nike In, Uber Technologies and Airbnb, which use its software for project, time and workflow management.

Craft Ventures co-founder David Sacks described ClickUp as a "single productivity platform to rule them all." Mr Sacks said he invested after being impressed by the company's ability to take on its competitors before getting significant outside backing.

"You would think that in a very crowded market, a new entrant would have trouble gaining traction," Mr Sacks said in an email. "But the opposite is happening." Previously, Mr Sacks co-founded Yammer, which was sold to Microsoft, and served as chief operating officer of PayPal Holdings. He was also a producer of the 2005 film "Thank You for Smoking." ClickUp founder and chief executive officer Zeb Evans said the company was valued at a "couple hundred million" dollars earlier this year. He added that 2020 proved to be a particularly strong year for the startup, with its revenue growing to "tens of millions" of dollars.

While the shift to work-from-home helped the company, Mr Evans said he expects "the tailwinds of that will continue" after employees return to offices.

Salesforce.com's acquisition of Slack Technologies, announced this month, is a sign that large technology businesses are hungry to buy workplace productivity tools and that further consolidation can be expected, Evans said.

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