Venture Capital: Airtable Raises $185M At A $2.5B Valuation
Spreadsheet reinventor Airtable more than doubles its previous valuation of $1.1 billion in 2018.
Airtable, whose products deliver the power of a database with the familiarity of a spreadsheet, has raised $185 million according to Bloomberg. The funding brings the startup’s total fundraising to over $350 million.
Thrive Capital led the current Series D round which also saw participation by existing investors including Benchmark and Coatue Management.
COVID-19
The coronavirus pandemic forced large sections of the global workforce to work from home. That has helped Airtable’s business which offers spreadsheets that are more like databases and come in a user-friendly, no-coding-required format suitable for businesses and consumers.
Though Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel are formidable competitors, Airtable has already racked up over 200,000 business customers. It counts big names such as HBO, Robinhood Markets, and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), TIME, and IBM (NYSE: IBM) amongst its users.
According to founder and CEO Howie Liu, there is “easily a $ 100 billion opportunity ahead of us.”
Airtable did not need the funding
That figures because Liu revealed to TechCrunch that investors had evinced keen interest in the company and its potential in a low-code/no-code market.
“While we didn’t strictly need the funding, it allowed us to continue to invest aggressively into furthering our platform, vision and really executing aggressively, […] without having to worry about, ‘well, what happens with COVID?’” he commented.
The funding followed a mostly digital process and commenced a couple of months after “shelter in place” commenced in California.
New features announced September 14
The company also announced its Airtable Apps, a platform dedicated to the creation of custom applications, Airtable Automations for the automation of work, and Airtable Sync to enhance collaboration between users.
Whereas previously users could add prebuilt features to their tables, a point came when sophisticated customers needed to do more with the platform. With Apps, such users can use JavaScript to build additional functionality into their tables.
By adding this feature, Airtable has moved from being a “no-code” product to a “low-code” solution.
Related Story: Employee Management Platform Rippling Snags $145M And Unicorn Status
Image Credit: Airtable
Latest Alternative Investment News
Artificial Intelligence: AMD Takes On Rivals In The AI Chip Sweepstakes
Chipmaker AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) has unveiled a range of innovative AI solutions spanning from data centers to personal computers. The AMD Instinct MI300 Series features data center AI accelerators, while…
Digital Assets: Robinhood Debuts Crypto Trading On Its App In The EU
Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) has launched its Crypto app in the European Union (EU), allowing eligible customers to engage in crypto trading with the added incentive of earning Bitcoin rewards. Customers…
FinTech: Samsung Electronics Ties With Mastercard’s Wallet Express
Samsung Electronics (KRX: 005930) and Mastercard (NYSE: MA) have partnered to launch the Wallet Express program, offering banks and card issuers a cost-effective way to expand digital wallet offerings. Through…
Venture Capital: Revaia, Europe’s Biggest Female-Led VC Firm, Racks Up $160M For Second Fund
Revaia, Europe’s largest female-founded venture capital firm, has successfully raised €150 million ($160 million) for its second fund, Revaia Growth II. The funding was secured from sovereign wealth funds, family…