NIGERIA – Cloud scheduling startup, Calendly LLC announced it has raised US$350 million in new funding to provide liquidity for early shareholders and employees and continue product development.

This funding round was led by OpenView Venture Partners, a Boston-based expansion-stage firm and existing investor, with participation from San Fransisco-based Iconiq Capital and has now valued the company at more than US$3 billion.

Founded in 2013 by Tope Awotona, Calendly simplifies the way meetings are scheduled by creating simple rules such as availability preferences, share links, or embed calendars and allows those seeking a meeting to pick a time using the service.

“Our profitable, unique, product-led growth model has led to Calendly becoming the most used, most integrated, most loved scheduling platforms for individuals and large enterprises alike.”

Tope Awotona – Founder, Calendly

The platform can also be integrated with Google, Outlook, Office 365, and iCloud calendar to avoid double bookings along with automated task support linked into Salesforce, GoToMeeting, Zapier, and other services.

This new funding will be used to provide liquidity for early shareholders and employees as well as continue product innovation. It will also be used to build the platform with more tools and integrations and also expand its business with more talent.

“Our profitable, unique, product-led growth model has led to Calendly becoming the most used, most integrated, most loved scheduling platforms for individuals and large enterprises alike,” said Tope Awotona,

This funding round is Calendly’s first since receiving US$550,000 from local firm Atlanta Ventures and OpenView.

“While we considered outside investment an unnecessary distraction, we made the decision to partner with OpenView and Iconiq because of their insight and extended network within the tech industry,” said Tope.

“While some of the investment will add to our balance sheet, it will also be used to allow our early employees and early investors – who bet on this crazy idea years ago – to have some liquidity.”

In 2020, Calendly doubled its subscription revenue to US$70 million and since then, the startup has grown massively despite the pandemic. It currently has more than 10 million users using it each month to streamline the way they schedule meetings, including teams at companies such as Zoom and Twilio.

The high valuation is due to the explosive growth Calendly experienced last year. In 2019, Calendly had less than a million users; now, it currently has about 10 million people using its features. Last year, Calendly also doubled its subscription revenue to US$70 million.

The reason for the surge in its usage can be credited to the now prevalent work-from-home culture. In the past year, a new set of users, including health workers, teachers, contractors, entrepreneurs, and freelancers, have started using Calendly to schedule meetings.

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