Latest news with #CustomerValueFund
Finextra
08-07-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Finom appoints Tijana Kovacevic as chief people officer
Finom, the European financial services platform for SMEs, today announced the appointment of Tijana Kovacevic as Chief People Officer. 0 Tijana brings over 18 years of global HR leadership experience across high-growth technology companies. She is joining Finom as the company accelerates its expansion across Europe following its recent €92.3 million growth investment from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund. Kovacevic's appointment comes at a dynamic time for Finom, which has grown to over 500 employees across multiple European markets and aims for scaled customer acquisition. Extensive experience leading People Strategy and Operations at companies including Wise, Coca-Cola HBC, Qatar Airways, and most recently as VP People at refurbed, positions her to drive Finom's talent strategy as the company scales its workforce to support ambitious growth plans. "Tijana's track record of building people-centered tech enabled and lean organizations at scale makes her the ideal leader to guide our people strategy during this pivotal phase," said Andrey Petrov, CEO and co-founder of Finom. "As we expand across Europe and grow our team, her expertise in organizational development and talent management will be instrumental in maintaining our culture while attracting the best talent to drive our mission forward." "Finom's commitment to empowering European entrepreneurs through innovative financial solutions resonates deeply with my passion for enabling organizations and their people to deliver on founders' strategic vision," said Kovacevic. "I'm excited to join a company that's transforming business banking while building a customer-centric organization powered by exceptional talent." Kovacevic's appointment reflects Finom's commitment to strategic talent investment as the company pursues aggressive expansion plans. The recent €92.3 million investment from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund specifically supports customer acquisition and market expansion efforts, requiring significant organizational scaling across multiple European jurisdictions. Finom currently serves over 125,000 businesses across Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy, offering comprehensive digital banking services including local IBAN accounts, AI-powered financial management tools, and integrated e-invoicing solutions. The company doubled its revenue in 2024 and projects similar growth for 2025. The appointment of Tijana Kovacevic follows other strategic leadership additions in 2024, including Alessandro Camilotti as CFO, Rob Allen as Chief Revenue Officer, and Kristjan Kaar as CPO, strengthening Finom's executive team for its next phase of growth.
The Star
29-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Exclusive-Grammarly secures $1 billion from General Catalyst to build AI productivity platform
An AI (Artificial Intelligence) sign is seen at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China July 6, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo Grammarly has raised $1 billion in non-dilutive financing from General Catalyst to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) offerings, aiming to grow into a comprehensive productivity platform, the companies told Reuters. Grammarly, known for its popular writing assistant tool, plans to use the capital to fund sales and marketing costs and strategic acquisitions. It looks to use AI to build more communication-based productivity tools and even hosts third-party tools on its platform by leveraging access to its 40 million daily users. The investment, one of the biggest out of General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund (CVF), could help late-stage tech companies like Grammarly accelerate growth by using dedicated capital to acquire new customers. By reallocating funds typically tied up in sales and marketing, Grammarly can invest more in product development. In return, General Catalyst doesn't receive an equity stake in Grammarly, but will get a capped return linked to revenue generated through using this capital. This is structured as a percentage of the revenue generated from the fund being used in customer acquisition. Founded in 2005, Grammarly has an annual revenue exceeding $700 million and is profitable. In December, Grammarly appointed Shishir Mehrotra, previously CEO of the acquired productivity platform Coda, as its new leader, signaling a push into broader AI-powered workplace tools. "As Grammarly is going through a huge transformation of going from being a what is mostly known as a single-purpose agent to being an agent platform, it just felt very important for us to be able to bet big in our product development and in M&A as well as in our growth strategies," Mehrotra said in an interview. He added said the company has an eventual goal to go public, although no imminent plans. "I'm right now just focused on making sure we're innovating with new products, growing as fast as we can. But when we feel ready, we'll go public," Mehrotra added. The dedicated growth investment, if it pays off, could also benefit the valuation of Grammarly and General Catalyst's stake in the company, as it has also been an equity investor in Grammarly's series B funding in 2017. San Francisco-based Grammarly has raised over $550 million in venture capital, according to PitchBook. It was last valued at $13 billion in 2021. General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund operates by drawing capital from the firm's main investment fund, including a newly raised $8 billion. This approach is part of a strategic evolution for the investment firm, led by CEO Hemant Taneja, as it seeks to grow beyond the traditional venture capital model, including creating innovative funding mechanisms. Its customer acquisition fund has invested in nearly 50 companies, including Lemonade and Fivetran, as it leads on growth metrics to a more predictable path to returns. "Companies like Grammarly basically have a machine where they can invest dollars in sales and marketing and generate a very consistent return," said Pranav Singhvi, Managing Director at General Catalyst, "With this wave of AI, giving Grammarly the firepower to actually go and invest could land those customers beyond the 40 million." (Reporting by Krystal Hu in New York; editing by Giles Elgood)
Reuters
29-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Exclusive: Grammarly secures $1 billion from General Catalyst to build AI productivity platform
May 29 - Grammarly has raised $1 billion in non-dilutive financing from General Catalyst to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) offerings, aiming to grow into a comprehensive productivity platform, the companies told Reuters. Grammarly, known for its popular writing assistant tool, plans to use the capital to fund sales and marketing costs and strategic acquisitions. It looks to use AI to build more communication-based productivity tools and even hosts third-party tools on its platform by leveraging access to its 40 million daily users. The investment, one of the biggest out of General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund (CVF), could help late-stage tech companies like Grammarly accelerate growth by using dedicated capital to acquire new customers. By reallocating funds typically tied up in sales and marketing, Grammarly can invest more in product development. In return, General Catalyst doesn't receive an equity stake in Grammarly, but will get a capped return linked to revenue generated through using this capital. This is structured as a percentage of the revenue generated from the fund being used in customer acquisition. Founded in 2005, Grammarly has an annual revenue exceeding $700 million and is profitable. In December, Grammarly appointed Shishir Mehrotra, previously CEO of the acquired productivity platform Coda, as its new leader, signaling a push into broader AI-powered workplace tools. "As Grammarly is going through a huge transformation of going from being a what is mostly known as a single-purpose agent to being an agent platform, it just felt very important for us to be able to bet big in our product development and in M&A as well as in our growth strategies," Mehrotra said in an interview. He added said the company has an eventual goal to go public, although no imminent plans. "I'm right now just focused on making sure we're innovating with new products, growing as fast as we can. But when we feel ready, we'll go public," Mehrotra added. The dedicated growth investment, if it pays off, could also benefit the valuation of Grammarly and General Catalyst's stake in the company, as it has also been an equity investor in Grammarly's series B funding in 2017. San Francisco-based Grammarly has raised over $550 million in venture capital, according to PitchBook. It was last valued at $13 billion in 2021. General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund operates by drawing capital from the firm's main investment fund, including a newly raised $8 billion. This approach is part of a strategic evolution for the investment firm, led by CEO Hemant Taneja, as it seeks to grow beyond the traditional venture capital model, including creating innovative funding mechanisms. Its customer acquisition fund has invested in nearly 50 companies, including Lemonade and Fivetran, as it leads on growth metrics to a more predictable path to returns. "Companies like Grammarly basically have a machine where they can invest dollars in sales and marketing and generate a very consistent return," said Pranav Singhvi, Managing Director at General Catalyst, "With this wave of AI, giving Grammarly the firepower to actually go and invest could land those customers beyond the 40 million."
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Grammarly secures $1 billion from General Catalyst to build AI productivity platform
By Krystal Hu Grammarly has raised $1 billion in non-dilutive financing from General Catalyst to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) offerings, aiming to grow into a comprehensive productivity platform, the companies told Reuters. Grammarly, known for its popular writing assistant tool, plans to use the capital to fund sales and marketing costs and strategic acquisitions. It looks to use AI to build more communication-based productivity tools and even hosts third-party tools on its platform by leveraging access to its 40 million daily users. The investment, one of the biggest out of General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund (CVF), could help late-stage tech companies like Grammarly accelerate growth by using dedicated capital to acquire new customers. By reallocating funds typically tied up in sales and marketing, Grammarly can invest more in product development. In return, General Catalyst doesn't receive an equity stake in Grammarly, but will get a capped return linked to revenue generated through using this capital. This is structured as a percentage of the revenue generated from the fund being used in customer acquisition. Founded in 2005, Grammarly has an annual revenue exceeding $700 million and is profitable. In December, Grammarly appointed Shishir Mehrotra, previously CEO of the acquired productivity platform Coda, as its new leader, signaling a push into broader AI-powered workplace tools. "As Grammarly is going through a huge transformation of going from being a what is mostly known as a single-purpose agent to being an agent platform, it just felt very important for us to be able to bet big in our product development and in M&A as well as in our growth strategies," Mehrotra said in an interview. He added said the company has an eventual goal to go public, although no imminent plans. "I'm right now just focused on making sure we're innovating with new products, growing as fast as we can. But when we feel ready, we'll go public," Mehrotra added. The dedicated growth investment, if it pays off, could also benefit the valuation of Grammarly and General Catalyst's stake in the company, as it has also been an equity investor in Grammarly's series B funding in 2017. San Francisco-based Grammarly has raised over $550 million in venture capital, according to PitchBook. It was last valued at $13 billion in 2021. General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund operates by drawing capital from the firm's main investment fund, including a newly raised $8 billion. This approach is part of a strategic evolution for the investment firm, led by CEO Hemant Taneja, as it seeks to grow beyond the traditional venture capital model, including creating innovative funding mechanisms. Its customer acquisition fund has invested in nearly 50 companies, including Lemonade and Fivetran, as it leads on growth metrics to a more predictable path to returns. "Companies like Grammarly basically have a machine where they can invest dollars in sales and marketing and generate a very consistent return," said Pranav Singhvi, Managing Director at General Catalyst, "With this wave of AI, giving Grammarly the firepower to actually go and invest could land those customers beyond the 40 million."
Bloomberg
29-04-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Fintech Clara Raises $80 Million to Bolster Latin America Growth
Financial technology startup Clara, a corporate spending management firm, has raised an additional $80 million in funding from investors as it seeks to bolster its operations in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia with plans to become profitable by year-end. The equity portion of the financing, which makes up $40 million of the total, included participation from Citi Ventures and Kaszek Ventures. The other $40 million of growth funding, a debt-like facility, came from long-time backer General Catalyst out of its Customer Value Fund.
