Low-code CRM automation company Creatio has raised $200 million at a $1.2 billion valuation to fuel further growth.
Creatio’s software allows enterprise customers to build, deploy, and personalize applications for use cases across CRM, case management, and workflow automation.
The firm offers a set of apps, connectors, and templates to speed up development on top of its platform, and boasts clients including AMD, MetLife, OKI, Top Build, and Saudi Telecom Company.
The investment round is led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from StepStone Group and current investors, Volition Capital and Horizon Capital. The investment is aimed at fueling Creatio’s global expansion, according to CEO Katherine Kostereva.
“With this investment, we will continue to disrupt the traditional enterprise software approach, helping our clients to accelerate time-to-value and use technology as a competitive differentiation in their business.”
Following the investment round, Creation said it plans to double down on its investments in R&D, focusing on expanding AI-assisted development and copilot capabilities. It said it will expand its portfolio of ready-to-use components and templates for verticals, including financial services, insurance, manufacturing, and distribution.
Around 50% of Creatio’s business comes from channel partners, and the company plans to expand its channel activities globally. The company operates in 25 countries and said it will expand staffing across key areas such as R&D, customer success, marketing, and sales.
“Creatio addresses the complexity and inflexibility of traditional software vendors and enables organizations to seamlessly replace legacy technologies, delivering market-leading ROI,” said Sean Cantwell, managing partner at Volition Capital.
While the sales automation software market has been around for some time, it’s still a key part of the extremely competitive enterprise software world. The market grew 14.4% to an estimated $10.7 billion in 2022, according to tech analyst Gartner.
Creatio noted that its no-code platform has been positioned as the only leader in the recent report, The Forrester Wave: Low-Code Platforms for Citizen Developers.
“Creatio is an obvious choice for its SaaS customers and a leading option for enterprises that want well governed citizen development and superior automation at scale,” said the report.
Forrester has estimated that the combined low-code and digital process automation market reached $13.2 billion by the end of 2023. Nearly nine-in-ten enterprise developers use low-code development platforms for at least some of their development work.
And, just as AI coding copilots are already common in development, so generative AI tools could help support further growth in so-called ‘citizen development’ with analysts predicting that AI-infused platforms could drive the low-code and digital process automation market to $50 billion by 2028.
