Singapore Startup Joins Unicorn Club After Qatar Investment Authority-Led Funding

Insider, a B2B software-as-a-service startup headquartered in Singapore, has raised $121 million in a Series D funding round led by Qatar’s sovereign-wealth fund at a valuation of $1.2 billion.

Besides the Qatar Investment Authority, other investors in Insider included 212 Capital Partners in Luxembourg, Bulgarian firm Endeavor Catalyst, Esas Private Equity in Turkey, Menlo Park-based Riverwood Capital, Sequoia Capital and Dubai-based Wamda Capital.

Insider helps marketers connect customer data with their AI-driven marketing engine across messaging channels by predicting future behaviour and creating individualized predictions for customers based on their historical data.

“Insider has aggressive global hiring plans and anticipates creating more than 2,000 jobs over the next four years, with an emphasis on hiring female engineers to fill hundreds of R&D and product development positions,” the company told Forbes in a statement.

The startup counts Estée Lauder, Gap, IKEA, Samsung and Toyota as some of its clients and has over 700 employees across 28 countries worldwide, according to the statement.

Insider was founded in 2012 by Arda Koterin, Hande Cilingir, Mehmet Sinan Toktay, Muharrem Derinkök, Okan Yedibela and Serhat Soyuerel.

In February last year, the startup raised $32 million in a Series C funding round from investors that include Endeavor Catalyst, Riverwood Capital, Sequoia Capital India and Wamda Capital.