Sequoia tops a tender of $ 1.5 billion to start off clay sales automation

It took seven years of the hard work of Karim Amin, co -founder and CEO of Sales Automation Startup Clay, to see the company’s producer finally start in 2022. Since then, the start of the start of explosive growth, has reached an evaluation exceeding one billion dollars, and expanding the number of employees from low numbers to more than 150.

Despite the average duration of the company’s short team, Secretary made a rare decision: Clay allows employees who have at least a year of the sale of some of their shares at a relatively high share price to one of its current investors, Sequoia. It is a victory for everyone. The employee tender provides the company’s values ​​of $ 1.5 billion, an increase of $ 1.25 billion in it was secured Funds series In January. Sequoia, an investor in Clay since the 2019 series, has agreed to buy up to $ 20 million in employee shares.

A start -up company is often traded for a fewer wage for a bet on the company’s future, and Amin told Techcrunch. “Most startups do not work, but Clay works, so we wanted to make sure they have a liquidity option.”

According to Amin, both current employees and former employees are eligible to sell a specific part of the property rights, and they usually equate about one year.

Alfred Lane, a partner in Sequoia and Clay Board, sees Amin’s decision and co -founder Varon Anand to provide a participation at the company level in the financial success to start operating as another sign of Clay’s uniqueness.

“Clay is a very creative place,” Lin said. The startup technology helps sales representatives and marketers find the correct data and automate the going to the market with artificial intelligence. Clay tools are used by thousands of customers, who range from large companies such as Openai, Hubspot and Canva, to more than 100 small consulting agencies that help other companies to use Clay for their efforts in the market.

The company did not take the community of loyal customers as a Muslim. In February, Clay gave the option of direct users to participate in her growth by allowing her community members around the world Invest in starting start In the same evaluation submitted to the chain investors B. Amin said that Clay raised about one million dollars on a community tour so that its customers can participate directly in its growth.

Amin looks at the tender display and the community’s tour as evidence for Clay employees and customers who direct that building the company is a collective effort: a method, as she put it, to ensure “gains do not accumulate only for a few people.”

Although the tender will help the current and former employees spend some of their shares, giving them a degree of financial freedom, do not plan Amin and Anand to sell any of their shares in the offer.

For Sequoia, the tender is an opportunity to increase its share in Clay, which reflects the company’s confidence in the company’s capabilities.

However, Lynn believes that many mud employees will not be very excited to sell a lot of their shares now because they expect their shares to be much more in the future. “It is possible that there will be a request less than $ 20 million, which is sad for Sequoia because we would like to buy more.”

And if employees do not sell some of their shares now, then there will be another chance in the future. Amin said that Clay is so rapidly that he wants to launch bid offers annually.

Amin hopes to determine the company’s tender for a trend, and inspire other startups to provide employee liquidity as well.