When Troops launched its sales assistant tool in 2015, they didn’t want to be just another application fighting for screen space and requiring constant updates.
Instead, co-founders Dan Reich, Scott Britton and Greg Ratner gambled that the future of work would be where people already spent most of their time: messaging apps. So they built their sales assistant tool specifically to run within Slack.
“When we launched, Slack was around, but I don’t think anybody of any significance were developing on that platform,” Reich said. “But the most used apps in the world were messaging apps, and it seemed inevitable to us that the way we do things in our personal lives would come into the working world.”
Today, Slack has infiltrated offices everywhere, and it is preparing for its direct listing on June 20th. And Troops has grown with it, announcing on Wednesday that it has raised a $12 million Series B, with participation from none other than the Slack Fund.
Reich said Troops’ funding round has served as validation for its prediction four years ago.
“[Slack’s] mission is aligned with ours,” Reich said. “We think best way for customer-facing teams to work is in this medium.”
Based in New York, Troops designed its application to help companies manage their customer facing accounts with AI-powered digital assistant. The assistant will ping team members with actionable tasks when something important happens, whether it’s a closed deal or a meeting with a client or prospect.
Companies can set their own rules for what triggers a to-do, and the goal is to improve account coordination, collaboration and management.
When we launched, Slack was around, but I don’t think anybody of any significance were developing on that platform.”
Also on Wednesday, the company unveiled its Deal Room tool, which gives all team members access to all relevant information they’ve gathered about a customer in Slack. The tool aggregates information from Salesforce, team notes and other sources to help teams collaborate on their most important deals, Reich said.
After two years of doubling down on research and development, the company is now building out its marketing and sales team to reach more customers. Troops is already used by WeWork, Envoy and 300 other customers, Reich said.
Aspect Ventures led the round, with participation from Slack Fund, First Round Capital and more.
