German CMS Contentful Secures $13M to Open US Office
Berlin-based Contentful, the API-driven content management developer platform, announced it has secured $13 million in Series B financing led by Benchmark Capital, with participation from Trinity Ventures, Balderton Capital, and Point Nine Capital. Its latest funding round equals total financing raised of $16.8 million.
"Traditional CMS like Wordpress or Drupal have been designed to be great for desktop websites, but are not architected for other devices and platforms," said Sascha Konietzke, Founder and CEO of Contentful. "As a result, this presents an abundance of challenges for developers, who are working to create new content experiences. We are alleviating those hurdles to make life easier for developers and more productive for companies," Konietzke added.
According to Contentful, the funding round began as the startup was seeing monthly revenues rise to double-digit rates and is starting to experience growth across varies industries, with recognized customers such as Urban Outfitters, Red Bull, Jack in the Box, Nike, Trunk Club, Xoom, and Tastemade. Also with the new funds, Contentful will open a San Francisco office and hire new employees in order to continue to “focus on evolving the platform to meet the changing needs of the developer community and enterprises alike,” the company said in a statement.
The company was established with 12 people in May 2014, growing to 60 employees currently. The German startup organization enables content to be delivered across numerous devices from desktops and mobile to digital signage, watches, and smart cars. The company is focused on supporting the future of delivering content through native mobile apps and wearables, rather than web publishing, especially when there are already big-names such as WordPress in the market for this purpose. Contentful offers pricing plans with a 30-day obligation-free trial, starting from $0 up to $200/ month.
The organization offers a content management developer platform that consists of an API with structured content and a microservice architecture with an extensive development ecosystem. Here is a brief video below to demonstrate how Contentful API works:
"We're on the cusp of dramatic changes in the way content is developed and managed, and Contentful is ahead of the game with an innovative platform and approach," said Eric Vishria, a partner at Benchmark Capital. "Contentful already has strong traction with developers, buy-in from enterprise customers, and is rapidly accelerating growth in the usage of its API, so we know big things are on the horizon and are thrilled to be a part of the team."
Venus Tamturk
Venus is the Media Reporter for CMS-Connected, with one of her tasks to write thorough articles by creating the most up-to-date and engaging content using B2B digital marketing. She enjoys increasing brand equity and conversion through the strategic use of social media channels and integrated media marketing plans.