Singaporean start-up Insider recently announced it has raised US$121 million in series D funding, giving it a valuation of $1.22 billion and making it the second business-to-business Software-as-a-Service (B2B SaaS) unicorn in Asia.

The investment was led by QIA and included Sequoia, Riverwood Capital, 212, Wamda Capital, Esas Private Equity, and Endeavour Catalyst.

The company said the money would be used for global expansion and achieving targets like growth of 200 per cent in the next three years.

One of the few women-led unicorns globally in B2B SaaS expects to add over 2,000 employees globally in the next four years, with a focus on hiring women for hundreds of engineering and product roles.

In the Vietnamese market, which it entered in 2017, it plans to invest in human resources.

Insider is a platform that enables enterprise marketers to connect customer data across channels and systems, predict future behaviour with an AI intent engine and individualise customer experiences.

Its AI-powered platform claims to have the most comprehensive personalisation capabilities with communications channels including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, RCS, and SMS. The technology unites offline and online data on a single platform, allowing enterprise marketers to connect customer data, forecast behaviour and execute personalised customer experiences.

It has so far partnered with over 1,000 brands, including 100 in Viet Nam such as BamBoo Airways, Vietnam Airlines, Son Kim Group, VinGroup, Viettel Group, Be, FPT Shop, and The Body Shop.

Southeast Asia has been a key market from the beginning, Insider said.

It now has a presence in 11 markets in Asia including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Viet Nam, Japan, and Korea. — VNS