Cello has raised €2.3m in pre-seed funding, in a round led by byFounders, with participation from Tiny VC, Possible Ventures and Notion Capital; together with operator angels from Youtube, Personio, McMakler, and others.
Cello is leading the creation of a new category of ‘User-Led Growth’ — a next evolution in customer acquisition strategies that harnesses existing user base to drive word-of-mouth growth, at a dramatically lower customer acquisition cost (CAC).
Word-of-mouth is a key factor in evaluating traction in early- and growth-stage startups. Despite its importance, the channel is not well understood by founders. Cello aims to give SaaS businesses the ability to rapidly grow word-of-mouth into a valuable acquisition channel. Whether a company is product or sales-led, SaaS companies are able to add a new ROI-positive, scalable channel in hours instead of months, without the need to manage any operational overhead.
Cello’s platform redefines how incentivised referrals work in SaaS, by privately incentivising users with a percentage of all the net revenue (MRR) they refer. This unique recurring commission approach results in bullet-proof fraud prevention, zero payback period, and a positive return on investment.
Cello counts high-growth SaaS companies including Demodesk, Sastrify, Unlock, Butter, and others amongst its customers. The company will use the funding to build out market share in Europe and North America. With a founding team consisting of serial entrepreneurs and veterans from Pitch, Twilio, and Typeform the company is well equipped for rapid growth.
