Evergrowth, a Vilnius-based AI-powered B2B account-based sales platform, has secured €2 million in pre-seed funding, led by Impellent Ventures and Practica Capital. The startup focuses on revolutionizing B2B sales by using AI to eliminate spam and irrelevant messages, providing personalized engagement with prospects. Within three months of its launch, Evergrowth is on track to reach €500K in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). The funding will be used to further develop its platform, expand its team, and enter the US and European markets. The startup closed its consultancy business to focus on its scalable SaaS solution, combining AI with proven go-to-market strategies, attracting investors who see its potential in transforming B2B sales.
Sales teams use Evergrowth’s AI-driven platform to instantly gather account-based granular insights such as intent-based signals that trigger meaningful, personalised engagement with prospects. Intent signals Evergrowth’s platform covers include website visits, financial data, press releases, job postings and competitors. Previously, sales teams had to undertake manual deep research on individual accounts and their contacts. Using Evergrowth this process now takes minutes and generates deeper insights and fully optimised messages, enabling sales teams to concentrate on higher value and more complex work.
Co-founded by Jean-Baptiste Daguené, Mantas Urnieza, Tadas Cekavicius, Aivaras Rastenis, and Algimantas Padegimas, Evergrowth’s approach aims to eliminate some of the most common challenges in B2B sales, such as non-personalized, irrelevant outreach and the misalignment between sales and marketing teams.
Their customisable workflow generation feature of Evergrowth harnesses LLM technologies to create dynamic customer-centric sales frameworks that adapt in real time. This workflow, informed by evolving market conditions, customer preferences, and organisational objectives, guides sales teams through every cycle and seamlessly integrates with their existing sales playbooks.
In 2023, Jean-Baptiste Daguené began experimenting with OpenAI to see how it could be implemented into existing processes and templates and found that the marriage of AI and his previously proven go-to-market strategies allowed his clients to do much more effective and efficient work, with less money and time spent. This ultimately led to closing the consultancy business and going all-in on a scalable SaaS solution.
Jean-Baptiste Daguené, CEO and Co-Founder at Evergrowth, said: “2020-2022 was fueled by free money and a ‘grow at all costs’ mentality, and sadly, this drove many sales teams to scale in the wrong direction. Companies chose to mass-hire salespeople and double down on tools to make them more efficient instead of enabling them with customer-centric frameworks to help them understand their ideal customers’ needs. After a year of ‘hard resetting’ in 2023, where we saw a return to a ‘back-to-basics’ mentality, we predict that in 2024, sales professionals will be expected to do more with less. The solution to finding new ways to perform and create meaningful conversations with prospects is harnessing AI-enabled account-based framework to enable sales teams with super granular machine-powered research based on ICPs and personas definition.”
Evergrowth’s raise is notable not only in terms of capital but also demonstrates a much more significant indication of the rise and interest in Lithuanian-based startups. The country has a thriving technology ecosystem with companies spanning various sectors, and its supportive environment for innovation and technology has contributed to Vilnius becoming known as a hub for fintech and cybersecurity startups. The Baltic states have also been branded as a “unicorn factory,” producing some of the most well-known tech businesses like Vinted, NordVPN, Skype, and Bolt.
Phil Beauregard, Partner at Impellent Ventures, discussed why he and other investors believe in Evergrowth: “Impellent has had a lot of inbound on the AI Sales Enablement side since OpenAI burst on to the scene – and we’ve been sitting on the sidelines due to a lack of conviction around differentiation of product and team. We were especially excited when we found Evergrowth in Lithuania, a dynamic founding team rife with product, go-to-market-chops, and major sales DNA that spans decades of experience implementing customer-centric sales strategies. The level of experience and expertise that each co-founder brings to the table in their respective domains left us convinced that this was the ‘dream team’ to create the future of AI sales. When we had the chance to lead this investment in a country we are coming to love and respect alongside a perennial stalwart like Practica Capital, we jumped at the opportunity.”
Mantas Urnieza, Evergrowth’s CTO, explained how and why Evergrowth will use the new funding:
“This funding helps us continue to expand from a scrappy MVP that rapidly got traction within several months. The strong interest shown in our solution speaks volumes about its performance and potential. We will use this funding to scale the platform as fast as possible to meet growing demand.
Urnieza, a technical leader at numerous startups and a distinguished engineer with more than a decade of experience, added:
“Being an AI-native startup, we are using the technology at higher rates. We are moulding our know-how in sales processes and acceleration with AI-powered capabilities such as multi-LLM models and real-time data to build a suite that elevates sales professionals’ capacities to the next level. We familiarise ourselves with ideal customer profiles and buyer personas, track real-time data across multiple sources, and systematically capture intent signals, allowing Evergrowth clients to make the right and timely decisions to boost their revenue.”
Recent research into the Lithuanian startup scene in 2023 reports that it is the fastest-growing startup ecosystem in the Baltics. The combined enterprise value of Lithuanian startups grew 7.1x between 2018 and 2023, against a CEE growth average of 3.6x and a Baltics growth average of 2.7x. The region is gaining momentum among investors due to factors like advanced digital governance and an environment conducive to innovation, enhancing the region’s attractiveness for foreign direct investment. Additionally, a separate study from Change Ventures and Firstpick showed that median pre-seed rounds in the area hovered around €300k. Comparing this average to Evergrowth’s $2.2M raise and the interest it received from international VCs, it’s a true testament to investor confidence in Baltic equity and marking the company as “one to watch” in 2024.
Tomas Andriuškevičius, Partner at Practica Capital, added: “The assembled team is full of rock stars with a proven track record of building successful startups and understanding the mindset of B2B sales optimization. While many solutions can offer generic sales strategies, Evergrowth provides specialised, data-backed frameworks to enable sales and revenue teams, and their unique approach to adapting LLM into their platform has shown us a revolutionary way to achieve sustainable, long-term business growth. We feel confident that Evergrowth will pave the way forward regarding AI-driven sales strategies and will only add to the high-calibre class of early-stage startups currently emerging from Lithuania.”
Peter Holten Mühlmann, Angel Investor in Evergrowth and the Founder/Former CEO of Trustpilot, added: “From the early days at Trustpilot, JB’s strategic approach to sales—securing six hundred customers in just two years—demonstrated the effectiveness of his system and framework. Now, with the introduction of AI into Evergrowth’s methodology, JB, alongside his co-founders, is poised to transform account-based selling. This evolution resonates with my belief in the importance of a sales-led strategy for SaaS enterprises. Our shared dedication to elevating the sales profession through innovative AI applications in the B2B space is a key reason for my investment in Evergrowth. I’m enthusiastic about supporting a mission that aligns with my passion for sales excellence and promises to elevate the sales profession and redefine enterprise revenue leadership with advanced AI technology.”
Click to read more funding news.
Originally published on ArcticStartup : Original article