Qualtrics Raises $70 Million for State’s Largest First-Round Funding

Provo-based Qualtrics announced Tuesday morning that it partnered with Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners for $70 million in first-round funding.

While Qualtrics is 10 years old, it has been profitable since being founded and this is the first time the company has accepted outside investment, said CEO and cofounder Ryan Smith. The money is the two firms’ largest-ever joint investment. In addition to the $70 million, Accel and Sequoia will provide other services to Qualtrics.

Qualtrics is known for helping companies do sophisticated research and data collection, which is then broken down into easy to understand interfaces. The company recently released Qualtrics 360, a leadership and development platform, and Qualtrics Site Intercept, an online marketing and research tool that interacts with specific site visitors.

Smith said they made the decision to accept funding so they could grow faster with the new products, as well as add another 250 employees in the next year. The company currently has about 200 employees.

 “Qualtrics is the biggest software company you haven't heard of yet,” said Bryan Schreier, partner, Sequoia Capital. “They've become the foundation of market research and customer analytics for thousands of very happy customers.”

Smith said, “Today most research and data collection is outsourced at great expense, or done internally with tools that are either too basic or much too complex.” Because of that he created Qualtrics to make sophisticated data easy to use.

(5.16.12)