Extreme : Workday Ventures Invests in Revenue Management Software Company Clari

by Joe Panettieri • Jul 16, 2021

Workday Ventures, the strategic investment arm of SaaS business software provider Workday, has invested in Clari - a sales and revenue operations management software platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Clari also is joining the Workday Software Partner Program. The result: Clari will integrate forecasting insights with Workday Adaptive Planning workflows, the companies say.

Clari's software is designed to track the 'complete history of all your revenue data-from CRM, emails, meetings, call logs and everything in between,' the company says.

Multiple IT service providers and well-known technology companies leverage Clari to improve revenue forecasts and customer pipeline management. Key adopters include Extreme Networks, Illimio, Kenna Security, Malwarebytes, Nutanix, Recorded Future, Securly and Zoom, according to the Clari website.

Workday joins Clari's other Series E investors, including Silver Lake Partners, Northgate Capital, B Capital Group, Sequoia Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, Madrona Ventures, Thomvest, and Tenaya Capital. The Series E round raised more than $150 million.

Workday Ventures Invests In Clari: Executive Perspectives

In a prepared statement about the Workday Ventures investment, Clari CFO Alyssa Filter said:

'As the Revenue Operations leader, Clari is delivering the transparency and rigor needed to drive breakthrough financial results. The investment from Workday Ventures and our partnership with Workday will accelerate our ability to help transform companies' revenue operations to be more connected, efficient and predictable.'

Added Mark Peek, managing director and head of Workday Ventures:

'Companies are facing increased pressure to deliver predictable growth. Workday and Clari will explore ways to bring forecasting and pipeline insights together with financial reporting systems to provide real-time company performance data to chief financial officers, increasing transparency and control.'

Workday Ventures launched a $250 million fund in February 2018 to focus on investments in such areas as employee engagement and talent acquisition; integration and robotic process automation (RPA); strategic sourcing and spend analytics; and financial management.

Workday Business Growth, SaaS Application Portfolio

Meanwhile, Workday remains one the world's fastest-growing SaaS providers for business applications. Indeed, revenue was $1.18 billion in. Workday's first quarter of fiscal 2022, up 15.4 percent from Q1 of fiscal 2021, according to a May 2021 earnings statement from the company.

Workday's core SaaS applications focus on financial management, human capital management, enterprise planning, spend management, talent management, payroll and workforce management, analytics and reporting, and professional services automation (PSA). Key rivals include Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, SAP, Microsoft and other enterprise application providers.