SurveyMonkey raises $250M, now valued at $2 billion

SurveyMonkey will use the funding to ramp up its M&A strategy, with a focus on enterprise

There are a million different ways that companies try to find out what is working and not working in regards to their customers. There are reams and reams of data out there now, creating whole industries just to study it and get something useful from it. But you know that the easiest way is to find out? Just ask them.

Online survey development company SurveyMonkey offers tools for businesses to create polls to gauge customers and employees. And now it has raised a $250 million round of equity financing, it wasannounced on Monday.

The funding comes from new investors, including institutional funds and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Inc., and Baillie Gifford & Co, as well as from current investors Tiger Global Management, LLC, CEO Dave Goldberg, ICONIQ Capital, Google Capital, Social+Capital Partnership, Ryan and Chris Finley, and Laurel Crown Partners.

SurveyMonkey has previously raised around $900 million in funding, most recently $800 million in January of 2013, which includes $450 million in equity financing and $350 million in debt financing. This latest round brings its total funding to over $1.15 billion and reportedly values the company at $2 billion.

The company says it will use the new funding to pursue mergers and acquisitions, "as well as to provide an opportunity for existing investors and employees to sell some of their equity."

The company recently purchased Fluidware, a provider of online survey and application review tools; it was the first acquisition made by SurveyMonkey since 2011. What made Fluidware attractive to SurveyMonkey, a source familiar with the company told me, was its enterprise software products and international client base.

Those two elements, the source said, are, generally speaking, what the company will be looking for in its future acquisitions as well, though "it does not have any current targets in mind" for purchase.

Founded in 1999, SurveyMonkey offers services, including 10 questions, 100 responses and e-mail support, for free. It also offers tiered pricing plans, which start at $26 a month and go to $780 a year, which offer more responses and features, such as custom logos, question & answer piping, white label surveys and HIPPA-compliant features. 

Its customers currently include 99% of the Fortune 500.

With SurveyMonkey's big new valuation, plus its new focus on acquisitions, the most obvious question is: will the company be going public anytime soon?

"Every time SurveyMonkey recognizes need for additional liquidity, an IPO is something that is considered. While it is on the table for the future, there are no plans at this time," a source told me. "The company has been able to the raise capital it need, without having to operate under the demands of a public company. An IPO was not the ideal fundraising venue right now, but that doesn't mean it's off the table in the future."

(Image source: surveymonkey.com)