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Yammer Raises USD85m in financing round led by DFJ Growth

Yammer, Inc, a provider of enterprise social networks, has received USD85 million in its fifth round of funding, bringing its total financing to USD142 million. DFJ Growth, part of the core team at leading venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, led the round, with participation by new investors Meritech Capital Partners; Capricorn Investment Group LLC, the investment arm of Jeff Skoll; Khosla Ventures; and CrunchFund.

Previous investors Charles River Ventures, Emergence Capital, Founders Fund, Social+Capital Partnership, and US Venture Partners also participated, as did angel investors Bill Lee, Max Levchin, and NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott. Randy Glein, managing director at DFJ Growth, will have an observer’s seat on Yammer’s board of directors.

In less than four years, over 4 million corporate users have adopted Yammer, including employees at more than 85 per cent of the Fortune 500. In 2011, Yammer tripled sales, employee headcount, and paid seats. Building on this momentum, Yammer will use the additional financing to rapidly scale its sales and engineering teams in the U.S. and internationally. This growth round of funding will also allow Yammer to consider potential strategic acquisitions and invest in building brand awareness among enterprise buyers. On March 1, Yammer will launch its first advertising campaign with print and online ads highlighting the value of Enterprise Social Networks.

"Yammer launched the category of Enterprise Social Networking and pioneered a new model that drove unprecedented adoption in the enterprise," says David Sacks, founder and CEO, Yammer. "This significant influx of capital provides us with the resources to expand quickly and strategically, innovate rapidly and extend our market leadership."

"In the past few years, Yammer has assembled a world-class team and built a pioneering social networking product for enterprises. Yammer’s customers absolutely love the product and its benefits for their organizations, turning them into brand advocates and helping fuel Yammer’s explosive growth. This financing will enable Yammer to extend its market leadership and seize the massive opportunity in front of them,” says Randy Glein, managing director, DFJ Growth.

"When we first invested in Yammer, it was because the company reminded us so much of the early days at Facebook. David and his team have built a truly unique business — an enterprise company with fundamental product value that grows like a consumer company through virality and product engagement. We were excited to help lead this new round and believe that Yammer is the only company in the enterprise collaboration space that really understands how to build social products and look forward to more eye-popping growth in the years to come,” says Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and managing partner, Social+Capital Partnership.

"Meritech has a targeted strategy in investing in the fastest growing tech companies with unique technology. We recognized Yammer as the leader in enterprise social networking, and we are pleased to be chosen to join this great team and its backers,” says Paul Madera, managing director, Meritech Capital Partners.

"Yammer has a preternatural understanding of where the enterprise software market is headed, allowing them to remain one step ahead of the competition through constant innovation. We look forward to watching the company’s continued success as it builds on its strengths." — Stephen George, co-founder and CIO, Capricorn Investment Group LLC, the investment arm of Jeff Skoll

"Having worked with David previously at PayPal, I know his ability to lead a company to greatness. David and his team built Yammer to be social from the start and with their relentless focus on usability, Yammer succeeds across every industry and geography where it is deployed. Yammer was the first mover in the enterprise social networking space and is surely the best, making work massively more efficient,” says Peter Thiel, partner, Founders Fund.

"As an early investor in Yammer, it’s been impressive to watch the company not only launch the category of enterprise social networking, but bring it into the mainstream. It is obvious that Yammer will continue to define the future of how we work,” says Max Levchin, angel investor.
 

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