Atlanta-based Salesfusion, a marketing automation platform serving B2B small and medium-sized businesses, is raising $13.5 million in a series B funding round. Investors include Noro-Moseley Partners, BLH Venture Partners, Alerion Ventures, Tech Square Ventures, and Hallett Capital.
Marketing automation adoption rates remain highest among B2B enterprises, but interest from the B2C and SMB segments is growing. In fact, every single one of the top five growing marketing automation vendors is focused on either B2C or SMB companies (or both).
Noro-Moseley led the round with that apparently in mind. General partner Alan Taetle said in a statement, “There is enormous opportunity for SMB players to adopt and leverage marketing automation the way the enterprise market has.”
However, marketing automation remains a complicated space.
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With a variety of features, and vendors that serve a wide set of business sizes and types, knowing which vendors matter most to your business can be a major challenge. And SMB marketers are often the least educated about their options.
Above: Marketing automation vendors segmented by B2B, B2C, enterprise, and SMB.
In our report on marketing automation that looks at 43 vendors, Salesfusion was one of our “best bets” for B2B SMBs. But the company competes somewhere between Hubspot, Act-On, and Pardot (which Salesforce now owns through the ExactTarget acquisition), each of which has deeper pockets and larger established footprints.
The injection of cash will help the company compete in a market of rapidly growing opportunity and interest, but also strong and growing competition.
The company said it will utilize the funds to launch the next generation of its product, Salesfusion 360x, and to increase its marketing efforts and expand its sales team.
Above: Screenshot of Salesfusion’s drag and drop builder
We found in our research that, for marketers at SMBs, the criteria of highest importance for a marketing automation platform is the ability to meet most needs off the shelf — that is, with minimal setup or customization. As companies tend to underestimate the resources required to benefit from marketing automation, it’s critical that smaller companies get their needs met without additional investment, as much as possible.
Salesfusion is betting it can deliver just what SMBs are looking for.