Insider bags US$121m in funding, aims to grow SG headcount by 600%

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B2B SaaS platform Insider has bagged US$121 million in a Series D round led by QIA, at a US$1.22 billion valuation and unlocking unicorn status. The additional capital will be used to fuel rapid global expansion, enhance the company’s core technology and scale global sales and marketing investments. Insider also has aggressive global hiring plans with an emphasis on hiring female engineers to fill R&D and product development positions. In Singapore, which is also Insider's Asia HQ, the company anticipates growing headcount by 600% by 2025. Overall, it aims to create 400 jobs across key markets in Asia and Southeast Asia over the next three years.

Insider is a platform that enables enterprise marketers to connect customer data across channels and systems, predict future behaviour with an AI intent engine and individualise customer experiences. Its spokesperson told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that it is looking to grow its leadership team in Singapore, which currently has four senior executives overlooking growth, marketing customer success, and product marketing. It will also continue to grow its customer-facing frontline teams including sales, digital growth consultants, customer success, customer operations, marketing, partnerships, and vertical-based consultants.

Insider also plans to grow its product marketing and talent acquisition teams in Singapore and will look to expand into product and engineering functions. "An important note is that as a woman-led organisation, Insider prioritises women leadership and provides opportunities for women to join the tech industry," the spokesperson added. It currently has 15 individuals physically present in the Singapore office.

Since its establishment, Southeast Asia has been a key market, said Insider. As of date, the platform has expanded into 11 countries in Asia including, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, and Australia. According to Insider, Singapore is the top three countries with the highest percentage of digital consumers (79%). At the same time, Singapore also has the highest number of consumers who switched to buying predominantly online, growing to 53% in 2021.

"The digital generation in Singapore is growing rapidly and that would propel eCommerce sales to reach a projected US$10 billion gross merchandise value (GMV) by 2026," said Insider's VP of growth, Charles Tidswell. In fact, Tidswell added that establishing a strong team on the ground is key to expanding its readiness to more verticals and creating strong customer relationships as the business grows.

Insider's ambition to grow its business in Singapore comes as the country aims to be a regional digital and eCommerce hub and pushes forth with its Smart Nation strategy. The company's goal is to humanise customer experience through personalisation, mobile mastery, data and AI sophistication, and offering a cross-channel end-to-end suite.

With teams on the ground in 28 countries, Insider works with brands such as Philips, AVON, LG, Adidas, Vodafone, IKEA, MAC, Virgin, Toyota, Marks & Spencer, BBVA, and L'Oreal. Meanwhile, other investors participating in the latest funding round included Sequoia, Riverwood Capital, 212, Wamda Capital, Esas Private Equity, and Endeavor Catalyst.

At the same time, Insider's founder and CEO, Hande Cilingir has addressed the growth the platform had. In fact, in the past three years, the platform has managed to achieve three times growth. Following its aggressive expansion in Asia, Europe and LATAM, Cilingir explained that the platform will be carrying this momentum in the United States market. Recognised as a trusted software partner to global brands such as Coca-Cola, Decathalon, Lenovo and MAC, Cilingir added that the platform is "laser-focused" on bringing Insider to additional markets, and becoming the number one choice for every marketer.

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