Mixmax Raises $10.4M Series A To Boost Email Productivity

Morning Report: Investment into email apps continues with Mixmax’s latest round of funding. 

You may never get to inbox zero, but mundane tasks, such as negotiating a time to meet, are made a lot easier with Mixmax, which recently raised a $10.4 million Series A. Its latest raise is led by Jason Lemkin, the founder of SaaStr. Harrison Metal, a VC firm which led Mixmax’s $3 million seed round, has also participated in the company’s Series A. The SF-based company has pulled in a total of $13.4 million in funding according to Crunchbase.

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Interest in the email-augmentation startup has likely been bolstered by its impressive customer base. Per TechCrunch’s reporting on the deal, Mixmax, founded in 2014, has a total of 10,000 customers—most of whom are in sales and recruitment, an area in which SaaStr is known to have expertise in.

The startup intends to use its latest round of funding to bolster its team and expand the functions of its Chrome extension, which is the primary way its customers track email activity and share availability. TechCrunch notes the company intends to expand its product to Outlook—likely necessary to attract enterprise customers—as well as add a mobile interface, voice capability, and standard CRM functions such as follow up reminders.

Beyond Mixmax, improving email has, in general, been attracting the interest of investors. Just a couple of weeks ago, Front App, an app that manages emails for general support channels in a Slack-like interface, raised $66 million as part of its Series B. Polymail, which also offers similar services to Mixmax, raised a $820,000 seed round in 2016.

For better or worse, alternative corporate messaging apps, such as Slack, are not going to do away with email. But those startups that can improve the email experience in substantial ways appear to be attractive prospects for VCs and founders.

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