ThoughtSpot Raises $248M Series E, Reaches Unicorn Status

ThoughtSpot raised $248 million in its Series E, the company announced Wednesday, bringing its valuation to nearly $2 billion.

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The business analytics startup, which competes with companies like Looker, Domo, and InsightSquared, now has $543.7 million in total funding, according to its Crunchbase profile.

Since its $145 million Series D in May 2018, the company has invested $25 million in its office in Bangalore, India and opened new offices in Singapore, Tokyo and Dusseldorf, Germany. ThoughtSpot’s valuation after its Series D was $855 million, according to Crunchbase.

With the new cash, the company plans to focus on its international expansion efforts, invest in research and development and grow through acquisitions, CEO Sudheesh Nair said in an interview with Crunchbase News.

“Internally, we sort of look at this as a mini-IPO,” Nair said.

The company’s goal over the next year is to have half of its research and development coming out of its Bangalore office, which has more than 200 people, with the other half coming from its U.S. offices in Sunnyvale and Seattle. ThoughtSpot, which focuses on large global customers, is also looking to grow in markets like Singapore, Tokyo, and Australia.

In Europe, its major presence right now is in Germany, London, the Netherlands and France, Nair said. But still, it’s important for the company to invest in smaller-but-still-important markets like Switzerland, Belgium and the Nordic region of Europe, Nair said, adding that ThoughtSpot wants to be “a truly global company.”

On the acquisition front, Nair said he didn’t have any particular companies in mind. ThoughtSpot has not made any acquisitions before, according to its Crunchbase profile.

“We have ample opportunities to go and look for other entrepreneurs building similar things… and make them part of ThoughtSpot,” Nair said. ThoughtSpot has all together more than $350 million in the bank, Nair said.

ThoughtSpot has said in the past that it has the goal of reaching 20 million users by 2020. The company wouldn’t say if it had met that goal yet or how close it is to reaching the milestone, but said that it has more than 250 customers, and most customers have hundreds, if not thousands, of users. Walmart and Hulu are among ThoughtSpot’s customers.

With its newfound unicorn status, Nair said he wants the company, which was founded in 2012, to be responsible with its growth and take the time to learn more about its customers and its own business. But he would eventually like ThoughtSpot to go public.

“We just want to be very responsible when it comes to investing by measuring ROI,” Nair said.