Clay
Fill gaps in prospect records by checking multiple data providers and researching accounts.
Clay Funding History
Clay builds software for sales and marketing teams to combine prospect data, enrichment and AI research in automated workflows. Its platform includes Claygent, an AI research tool, and supports the prospecting and outreach processes associated with GTM engineering.
Company Overview
Founded 2017 · New York, NY, USA
Official WebsiteClay Funding Timeline
Series D
$115M · $7.1B valuation
Clay raised the round as it developed agents that help growth teams find prospective customers and act on signals such as funding or hiring.
Led by Wellington Management. Participation included Sequoia Capital, StepStone Group, Andreessen Horowitz, Meritech Capital, DST Global, CapitalG, BoxGroup, Boldstart Ventures, Evolution Equity Partners.
Source · clay.com ↗Employee Tender
Up to US$55 million · $5B valuation
Clay’s second tender in nine months gave employees the option to sell up to $55 million of their shares.
Led by DST Global. Participation included Conviction.
Source · clay.com ↗Series C
$100M · $3.1B valuation
Clay said the proceeds would expand its product and support the community of go-to-market engineers using it.
Led by CapitalG. Participation included Meritech Capital, Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital, BoxGroup, Boldstart Ventures, Sapphire Ventures.
Source · techcrunch.com ↗Employee Tender
$20M · $1.5B valuation
Clay opened the offer to current employees with vested shares and former employees who still held stock. Sequoia agreed to buy the first $20 million of employee shares.
Led by Sequoia Capital. Participation included Clay.
Source · clay.com ↗Series B Extension
$40M · $1.25B valuation
Clay described the $40 million financing as an expansion of its Series B.
Led by Meritech Capital.
Source · clay.com ↗Series B
$46M · $500M valuation
Clay disclosed the Series B alongside earlier rounds that had not been announced individually. The $62 million headline represented cumulative funding.
Led by Meritech Capital. Participation included Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital, BoxGroup, Boldstart Ventures.
Source · clay.com ↗Series A
$13.5M
Clay later disclosed that Sequoia led its $13.5 million Series A in 2019.
Led by Sequoia Capital.
Source · clay.com ↗Seed
$2.5M
Clay later disclosed that First Round Capital led its $2.5 million seed round in 2017.
Led by First Round Capital.
Source · clay.com ↗Pre-Seed
Undisclosed
The company disclosed this earlier backing retrospectively. Its occurrence date and amount were not disclosed.
Participation included BoxGroup.
Source · clay.com ↗
Clay Founding Team
Clay began as a programmable spreadsheet. The early product brought together a spreadsheet interface and tools for assembling data from outside sources. The founding team included Nicolae Rusan.
- Kareem Amin — CEO. Previously at Google and Facebook and VP of Product at the Wall Street Journal.
Clay Products
Clay Company Development
Account Research Becomes the Main Workflow
Clay paired enrichment data with AI research agents and workflow automation. A go-to-market team can use the same workflow to fill in conventional company data and research details that are missing from a structured provider.
Clay Competitive Landscape
Upstream Research and Downstream Outreach
Clay and 11x both help teams find and reach potential buyers. Clay is built around assembling and enriching the input data and automating research steps, while 11x packages outbound execution into a digital sales representative.
FAQ
Why does Clay’s history include employee tenders between primary rounds?
Employee tenders provide a route for holders to sell shares while Clay remains private. Clay separately announces new company financings. Keeping the events separate shows whether cash went to selling holders or into the company; it also avoids counting a tender as another operating-capital round.
Why were Clay’s early rounds disclosed together?
Clay’s company announcement described its seed and Series A as previously unannounced and also acknowledged earlier pre-seed backing. The public disclosure therefore covers financing that happened at different times. Its publication date should not be treated as the closing date for every early round.
Does CapitalG leading Clay’s Series C mean Google invested directly?
The named investor in that round is CapitalG. A fund investment and a direct investment by Google are different transactions. Clay’s financing history should identify the actual investing entity; it does not by itself establish a Google Cloud contract or purchasing commitment.
How should earlier Wellington reports be read after Clay’s Series D announcement?
The later company announcement provides the disclosed round and terms used in the timeline. Earlier reports about discussions belong to the history of that financing, rather than another independent round. Treating both as completed financings would risk counting the same capital twice.
What changed between Clay’s early financing and its focus on GTM teams?
First Round and boldstart describe an early product aimed more broadly at making programming and data connections accessible. The team later concentrated on data enrichment and outreach workflows. That shift in customer focus is part of the company’s history, so describing the entire financing journey as having no pivot is misleading.
Why should employee liquidity be separated from funding for Clay’s operations?
An employee tender pays selling shareholders, whereas a primary financing supplies capital to the company. Clay’s history includes both kinds of event. Read the transaction label before combining amounts; a tender can imply a share price without adding the same amount to operating cash.