SaaS Fundraising: How to Raise $20 Million for Your SaaS Startup – with Pini Yakuel [131]
SaaS Fundraising: How to Raise $20 Million for Your SaaS Startup
Pini Yakuel is the co-founder and CEO of Optimove, a SaaS product that uses its predictive customer modeling technology to help marketers understand customers and create personalized marketing campaigns.
The company was founded in 2009. It initially started out as a consulting business. And the co-founders used the consulting revenue to fund the SaaS business.
In 2012, they were offered $1.5 million in VC funding and turned it down. They continued self-funding the business until this year, when they raised $20 million in their first round.
Optimove is based in Tel Aviv and has offices in New York and London.
In This Episode You Will Learn
How the co-founders came up with the right business idea
How they were able to self-fund the business
Why they walked away from $1.5 million in VC funding
How they grew their idea into a business with over 100 employees
How the founders raised $20 million in VC funding 4 years later
![Scratch Your Own Itch for SaaS Success - with Janna Bastow [158]](https://saasclub.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/saas-success-Janna-Bastow.png "Scratch Your Own Itch for SaaS Success - with Janna Bastow [158]")
![UserZoom: Getting to $100M ARR by Falling in Love with a Problem - with Alfonso de la Nuez [315]](https://saasclub.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Alfonso-de-la-Nuez-UserZoom.png "UserZoom: Getting to $100M ARR by Falling in Love with a Problem - with Alfonso de la Nuez [315]")
![Renewtrak: From Struggling SaaS Startup to 29x ARR Growth - with Mathew Cagney [345]](https://saasclub.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Mathew-Cagney-Renewtrakv2-300x157.png "Renewtrak: From Struggling SaaS Startup to 29x ARR Growth - with Mathew Cagney [345]")
![How a SaaS Startup Used Engineering As Marketing to Drive Growth - with Randy Rayess [155]](https://saasclub.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/saas-engineering-as-marketing-Randy-Rayess.png "How a SaaS Startup Used Engineering As Marketing to Drive Growth - with Randy Rayess [155]")
![How to Build a SaaS Brand Without Doing 'Branding' - with Paul Campillo [270]](https://saasclub.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Paul-Campillo-Typeform.png "How to Build a SaaS Brand Without Doing 'Branding' - with Paul Campillo [270]")
![Doing 300 SaaS Customer Interviews Before Writing a Line of Code - with Alex Yakubovich [222]](https://saasclub.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/221_-Alex-Yakubovich.png "Doing 300 SaaS Customer Interviews Before Writing a Line of Code - with Alex Yakubovich [222]")
![SaaS Recurring Revenue: Lessons from a Former MMA Fighter - with Dan Faggella [163]](https://saasclub.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SaaS-Recurring-Revenue-Dan-Faggella.png "SaaS Recurring Revenue: Lessons from a Former MMA Fighter - with Dan Faggella [163]")
![How This Non-Technical Founder Launched Two Successful SaaS Startups - with Hiten Shah [031]](https://saasclub.io/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/37-Saas-Club-Podcast-Guests-8.png "How This Non-Technical Founder Launched Two Successful SaaS Startups - with Hiten Shah [031]")
![How Demio's Founders Overcame Their $100K SaaS Lesson - with David Abrams [153]](https://saasclub.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/saas-lesson-David-Abrams.png "How Demio's Founders Overcame Their $100K SaaS Lesson - with David Abrams [153]")
![SaaS Founder Lessons: On Startup Failures, Vulnerability & Leadership - with Dennis van der Heijden [229]](https://saasclub.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/230_-Dennis-van-der-Heijde.png "SaaS Founder Lessons: On Startup Failures, Vulnerability & Leadership - with Dennis van der Heijden [229]")