A Glimpse into How Clari’s Acquisition of Groove is Poised to Reshape Sales Productivity
I still remember the “aha moment” when Andy first demoed the Clari platform to Eric and me. It was on a Saturday morning back in February 2018. At that time, Andy was raising his Series C. It was our first meeting and rather than walking us through a deck, Andy started the meeting by demoing Clari then walked us through his vision of building the most complete revenue platform empowering organizations to run sales effectively. Right then and there, we were sold. My immediate reaction was, “Everyone should have this product.” It is rare for an investor to connect directly with a product and want to use it. That was the case with Clari. We invested as part of the Series C and have been firm supporters of Andy, Venkat, and their team ever since. What a journey it has been!
While Andy’s goal has always been to build a complete revenue platform, Clari started its journey with the most critical and difficult problem to solve — building a seamless forecasting and deal management platform with the understanding that the differentiating factor between a great and a poor revenue team is the ability to accurately forecast sales and improve pipeline visibility. Most teams, however, struggled to access quality, actionable data to guide reps toward what will move a deal forward in the pipeline. Clari’s solution addressed this critical pain point and gained dominance in the market by giving revenue teams the clarity they need.
Since then, Clari kept developing and building its platform adding additional features and capabilities such as conversational intelligence, mutual action plans and deal collaboration, and many others, itching closer and closer to becoming the most complete, end-to-end revenue platform. Recently, Clari announced the acquisition of Groove, the leader in sales engagement software. With that acquisition, the Clari platform became the undeniable leader in the space, offering the most complete and powerful revenue platform on the market today. Integrating Groove’s sales engagement capabilities with Clari’s AI-powered Revenue Platform gives give companies full visibility, predictability, and control across the end-to-end revenue process.
Over the past five years, we’ve seen the market evolve in several ways, including the bloating of sales tech stacks, which has led to downstream issues. In fact, the average sales team uses 10 tools. As a result, 9 out of 10 organizations plan to consolidate their tech stack in the next 12 months to increase efficiency. This places a greater emphasis on solutions that are platforms, rather than point solutions, as well as those that are deeply integrated with core revenue workflows. With its complete platform, Clari offers customers unprecedented visibility across their revenue operation from start to finish while enabling them to decrease cost and complexity and improve win rates and conversion. This is why at BCV we’re so excited about Clari’s acquisition of Groove.
Strengthening Sales Productivity: Sales productivity is the lifeblood of any business, and the Clari-Groove partnership recognizes this. By integrating Groove’s platform, renowned for its advanced automation and collaboration features, with Clari’s predictive insights, sales teams can now operate with a heightened level of efficiency and effectiveness. Automated workflows and data-driven recommendations will empower sales reps to prioritize leads, personalize outreach, and close deals with greater precision.
From Data to Actionable Intelligence: One of the most significant advantages of the Clari-Groove collaboration lies in the ability to convert raw data into actionable intelligence. Clari’s AI-driven forecasting insights will seamlessly integrate with Groove’s engagement data, providing sales leaders with a comprehensive view of their team’s performance. This holistic perspective ensures that sales managers can make informed decisions, adjust strategies in real-time, and drive revenue growth based on data-backed decision-making.
Empowering Sales Teams: A harmonized platform not only empowers sales managers but also empowers individual sales representatives. With Groove’s intelligent automation streamlining repetitive tasks and Clari’s predictive analytics guiding sales actions, reps can focus more on building relationships and tailoring their approaches to meet customer needs. This not only results in happier clients but also cultivates a more motivated and engaged salesforce.
As investors, we see Clari’s acquisition of Groove as more than just a strategic maneuver — it’s a blueprint for the future of sales enablement. We’re excited about the road ahead and for what this acquisition will do for revenue teams going forward.
