VentureBeat reporter Sean Ludwig reports: "European tablet presentation startup Showpad has raised $2 million in its first round of funding to help more enterprise companies use iPads for work and to grow its business in the United States.
Showpad offers up software that turns iPads and other tablets into sales and presentation tools. The software lets you easily upload content and manage separate content profiles online. When you open the app on the iPad, the content profile that has been assigned to you shows up. (See the photo above for an example of a content profile.) Showpad joins other startups that are trying to make mobile devices a bigger part of the enterprise.
“The mobile tools that are available on the market today are not suitable for modern salespeople,” Pieterjan Bouten, Showpad co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. “Just like any other employee on the move, salespeople have a need for accurate and real-time data. In addition, they need to be able to adapt their sales documentation to the individual customer’s requirements and to gain fast access to the experts within their companies.”
Read full article here.
TechCrunch editor Natasha Lomas reports: "Riding the consumerisation of IT trend that’s blowing the cobwebs off enterprise software, Belgian startup Showpad – which makes iPad software for sales teams — has raised a $2 million Series A funding round from early stage European VC firm, Hummingbird Ventures."
Read the full article here.
Belgium-based startup secures its first institutional financing round and will be using the capital to expand its activities across Europe and the United States
26 March 2013
Showpad is today announcing that it has secured $2 million in Series A funding from European venture capital firm Hummingbird Ventures to spur growth and build out its business internationally. The company will be using the capital to speed up the expansion of its sales and marketing teams, and to invest heavily into the further development of its platform. Showpad will also be opening up an office in New York City to support increasing demand for its products in the United States, and explore more partnership opportunities.
Showpad supplies its customers with tablet technology that substantially increases sales team productivity.
By 2016, companies will be using more than 350 million tablets, many of which will be utilised to enhance their sales teams’ productivity. The way in which people now communicate with each other, exchange information and learn new things has radically changed since tablets have come onto the scene. The rise in the number of tablets used in companies, especially by marketeers and salespeople, clearly reflects this growing trend. Increasing numbers of staff are now using tablets for work purposes.
Showpad transforms any tablet into a powerful sales and presentation tool.
Its technology enables salespeople and customers alike to quickly provide accurate information in any shape or form. Anytime and anywhere, both online and offline. Showpad gives companies the opportunity to find out how their sales content is being utilised and how to increase the efficiency of their sales operations.
“The mobile tools that are available on the market today are not suitable for modern salespeople. Just like any other employee on the move, salespeople have a need for accurate and real-time data,” Pieterjan Bouten, Showpad co-founder and CEO, tells us. “In addition, they need to be able to adapt their sales documentation to the individual customer’s requirements and to gain fast access to the experts within their companies.”
Louis Jonckheere, Showpad co-founder continues, “Businesses can no longer afford to ignore this issue. Their teams must not only be able to receive information in a simple, intuitive and well-structured way, but also share this with their customers, and provide feedback to their CRM system. Thanks to Showpad, sales teams are showing much greater performance and significantly higher productivity.”
Partnership with Jive Software.
In October 2012, Showpad announced an OEM partnership with Jive Software. Showpad's technology is powering Jive Present, the mobile sales enablement solution for Jive customers.
http://www.jivesoftware.com/social-business/platform/whats-new/present/
http://www.showpad.com/blog/2012/10/showpad-powers-jive-present-a-powerful-sales-and-training-ipad-app-to-enhance-sales-team-productivity/
Pleasantly surprised.
Barend Van den Brande, Managing Partner of Hummingbird Ventures, says, “We have been more than pleasantly surprised with the excellent feedback we have been receiving from leading customers and partners of Showpad in Europe and in the United States. We hope that our funding will help to accelerate the company’s continuing international expansion.”
BASF, Unilever, Heineken... as customers.
Showpad was first launched in 2011 by Pieterjan Bouten, Louis Jonckheere and Peter Minne. Their platform transforms any iPad into a powerful sales and presentation tool. This Ghent-based start-up already boasts an impressive list of customers. Showpad’s customer base already includes leading multinationals from all over the world, including BASF, Unilever and Heineken.
For more information, please visit Showpad on www.showpad.com.
Introduction Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqziAS22uOE
Product Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Oe7SXscJk
Hummingbird Ventures is a venture capital fund that focuses on fast-growing companies in the technology and internet sectors. The fund has branches in Antwerp, London and Istanbul. For more information about Hummingbird Ventures, please visit www.hummingbird-ventures.com
Las Vegas, Nevada, October 11th, 2012
At the annual Jive World conference in Las Vegas, NV, Showpad revealed that its technology powers Jive Present, a new sales and training productivity application from Jive Software.
By integrating Showpad’s mobile sales enablement platform with Jive’s award winning social business platform the Ghent (Belgium) based start – up will provide Jive customers with the required technology to dramatically increase sales teams’ productivity using tablets. The announcement of Jive Present today will enable this to become a reality.
Jive Present turns every tablet into an unmatched sales, presentation and training tool. The app uses Jive’s leading social business platform in combination with Showpad’s mobile sales enablement platform to distribute the most accurate and timely information in any format to sales reps and customers anytime and anywhere, online or offline. Additionally, with Jive Present, organizations can monitor consumption of information, compliance to corporate best practices and adherence to education programs.
The way people connect, share, and learn has fundamentally changed with the introduction of tablet computing. The growth of tablets in the enterprise, particularly for marketing and sales professionals, is reflective of this fundamental change. 11% of global employees are using tablets today, and over the next five years, total shipments of tablets to the enterprise will increase at 48% CAGR (1), and 65% of those tablets will be iPads (2). Industry experts suggest that over 96 million tablets will be used in the enterprise in 2016, a large percentage of which will be used to improve sales productivity.
Some key benefits of Jive Present includes the ability to:
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Provide video, audio and rich multi-media content to sales and distribution teams - ensuring relevant information is always available anytime, anywhere, online and offline
“Current mobile tools in the market have not kept pace with the needs of today’s mobile workforce. Sales reps, and anyone in the field, need real time information, the ability to customize materials to each customer’s needs and fast access to experts across the organization,” said Tony Zingale, Chairman and CEO of Jive. “It’s become a business imperative that these teams have an easy, intuitive and controlled way to receive information and leverage social tools to interact with the right content and people. With Jive Present, these organizations now have a powerful tool accessible with a click of a button anytime and anywhere. This will unlock massive business value in the enterprise with a focus on revenue increase and a more productive, higher performing sales teams."
“This partnership is a major step for our company and will strengthen our position in the United States,” explains Pieterjan Bouten, co-founder and CEO of Showpad. “We are very excited to offer our solution on the Jive platform and offer a way to improve the efficiency of sales teams across the globe.”
Showpad was founded in 2011 by Pieterjan Bouten, Louis Jonckheere and Peter Minne. Their platform turns every iPad into a powerful sales & presentation tool. The Ghent based start-up can already demonstrate an impressive client list. Globally they have already added several multinationals such as BASF, Cibavision & Heineken to their client base. For more information about Showpad: www.showpad.com
This month Showpad is featured in "Capital Magazine", the in-house magazine of Optima. Optima is a Belgian financial planner and a Showpad customer. In the interview the Showpad founders talk about how Showpad originated and what the benefits are for companies who want to increase the performance of their sales teams using the iPad as a sales tool. The interview is in Dutch.
Click here to read it online.
Ashley Furness, a Market Analyst for
Software Advice.com gives her view on how companies should plan to deploy the iPad for sales. Showpad is mentioned. You can read the full article
here.