Company:Front
 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Founded | 2013 |
| Founders | Mathilde Collin Laurent Perrin |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Mathilde Collin (CEO) Laurent Perrin (CTO) |
| Products | Collaboration software, Front shared inbox, Front Calendar |
Number of employees | 200[citation needed] (2021) |
| Website | frontapp |
Front is a privately held San Francisco, California -based software company that develops a shared email inbox and calendar product. Its collaboration software allows companies to communicate with customers.[1]
History
Front was founded in Paris, France in 2013 by current CEO Mathilde Collin and CTO Laurent Perrin.[1] Its first product was a shared inbox for employees to collectively manage and reply to generic group emails such as "support@company.com" or "info@company.com".[2] A majority of Front's early users were in the United States, so it moved to San Francisco just a few months later.[1]
In 2014, Front participated in the startup incubator program at Y Combinator and raised $3.1 million in seed funding.[1] The company launched its service in June 2014.[3]
By April 2016, the company reported it had over 1,000 paid customers, including French luxury company LVMH and marketing software company Hubspot.[4] In May, the company raised another $10 million in 2016, with participation from Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield.[4]
In January 2018, the company raised $66 million in a series B funding round led by investment firm Sequoia Capital.[1][5] The company also opened an engineering office in Paris.[5] In October, the company acquired calendar software startup Meetingbird, as its first acquisition.[6]
By March 2019, the company had over 4,700 customers, with over 100 employees.[2]
In January 2020, the company raised $59 million in a Series C funding round, valuing it at an estimated $800 million. This came from other tech executives rather than traditional venture capital companies.[7]
Products
Front's main product is a shared inbox that integrates a business team's communications channels including email, live chat, SMS text messages, voice, and CRM software such as Salesforce into a consolidated inbox.[8]
The company also offers a shared calendar called Front Calendar, allowing employees to manage meetings including scheduling meetings by sharing available times.[6]
Operations
Front is headquartered in San Francisco, with an engineering office located in Paris.[5] In August 2020, the company reported it had over 6,000 customers.[9] It has a female CEO and, as of March 2019, women comprise 50% of its executive team.[10][11]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Bastone, Nick (October 23, 2018). "This first-time CEO has a 100% approval rating on Glassdoor and her company just made its first acquisition". https://www.businessinsider.com/front-ceo-mathilde-collin-meetingbird-acquisition-2018-10.(Subscription content?)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Konrad, Alex (April 10, 2019). "Startup Front Shakes Up Pricing To Take Its Email Collaboration Mainstream". https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2019/04/10/startup-front-shakes-up-pricing-to-take-its-email-collaboration-mainstream/.
- ↑ Dillet, Romain (June 18, 2014). "Front Is A Shared Inbox App That Makes Email Suck Less". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2014/06/18/front-is-a-shared-inbox-app-that-makes-email-suck-lessfront-is-a-shared-inbox-app-to-make-email-suck-less/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Konrad, Alex (May 26, 2016). "Front Raises $10 Million From Slack's Founder And Investors To Fix External Email". https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2016/05/26/front-raises-10-million-from-slacks-founder-and-investors-to-help-fix-how-we-email/.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Konrad, Alex (January 24, 2018). "How Front Founder Mathilde Collin Raised $66 Million From Sequoia In Five Days". https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2018/01/24/this-founder-raised-66-million-in-5-days/.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Dillet, Romaine (April 10, 2019). "Front announces Front Calendar to integrate scheduling with shared inboxes". https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/20/front-announces-front-calendar-to-integrate-scheduling-with-shared-inboxes/.
- ↑ Konrad, Alex (January 22, 2020). "Email Startup Front Raises Rare $59 Million Round Led By Other Software Founders". https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2020/01/22/front-raises-rare-round-led-by-other-founders/.
- ↑ Keane, Jonathan (January 24, 2018). "French startup Front raises $66 million for its shared inbox". https://tech.eu/brief/front-funding/.
- ↑ "Popular email startup Front poached a sales leader from Intercom as it looks to become a platform for all of a business' communications with its customers". October 7, 2020. https://www.businessinsider.com/email-startup-front-hired-new-chief-revenue-officer-customer-communication-2020-10.(Subscription content?)
- ↑ Chan, Rosalie (March 25, 2019). "Hot startup Front hires its first CFO, making its executive leadership team 50% women. The CEO explains why that's so important.". Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/front-cfo-jenny-decker-atlassian-2019-3.
- ↑ "Mathilde Collin: I'm a Woman CEO and It Doesn't Change Anything". August 4, 2014. https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-232B-2905.(Subscription content?)
External links
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