Sales Tech Platform Scores Funding Boost
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA less-than-two-year-old sales technology company has announced a second round of funding. Costello, which bills its platform as a "real-time sales playbook," has secured $2.1 million in seed funding from investors in Indiana — Collina Ventures LLC Innovatemap Ventures, Elevate Ventures,
Innovate Indiana, serial entrepreneur Chris Baggott and Copper Mountain Technologies Chief Executive Officer and former T2 Technologies executive Irena Goloschokin — as well as Nebraska-based Dundee Ventures and Social Capital, a Silicon Valley investor. Chief Executive Officer Frank Dale says Indiana companies have to work harder for investment than startups on the coasts.
Dale says the company is almost exclusively funded by venture capital, which is hard to come by. Costello’s location, he adds, makes it even more of a challenge. "If you’re in Indiana, in particular — and the Midwest is still a little bit capital-starved — it’s tough, so you have to really, really excel to stand out," Dale said. "You have to execute at an elite level, because they (investors from the Coasts) have lots of opportunities to invest in companies in California, or in Boston or New York, and they don’t have to get on planes to do that."
In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Dale discussed how the funding will be used. "We’ll be hiring people in sales and customer support. So, we’re very excited about that because we’re starting to bring on more and more customers and we’re excited to do that at an accelerated rate," he said. "And then as well as product development, so, we’ve already doubled the size of our engineering team to keep up with customer demand for the product."
The company’s platform was launched in late-2017 and received a $1 million round of startup funding. Early this year, it detailed expansion plans at The Union 525 in downtown Indianapolis, which involve 65 new jobs by 2021. Costello’s technology is designed to help sales representatives prepare for calls, ask questions and "tell relevant stories" to boost sales.
Dale and fellow co-founder Rod Feuer appeared on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick earlier this year to talk about Costello’s growth plans:
Costello Chief Executive Officer Frank Dale discussed how the funding will be used.