Company:Front

From HandWiki
Short description: American developer of collaboration software
Front
TypePrivate
IndustrySoftware
Founded2013
FoundersMathilde Collin
Laurent Perrin
Headquarters,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Mathilde Collin (CEO)
Laurent Perrin (CTO)
ProductsCollaboration software, Front shared inbox, Front Calendar
Number of employees
200[citation needed] (2021)
Websitefrontapp.com

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. 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. 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/. 
  3. 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. 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. 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. 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/. 
  7. 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/. 
  8. Keane, Jonathan (January 24, 2018). "French startup Front raises $66 million for its shared inbox". https://tech.eu/brief/front-funding/. 
  9. "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?)
  10. 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. 
  11. "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