SYRACUSE, N.Y. — March 6, 2020 — StorySlab, a digital sales enablement technology company based in Syracuse, NY, announced today it has raised $2.7 million in funding led by Armory Square Ventures, along with participation from RiverPark Ventures and TIA Ventures. Martin Babinec, founder of TriNet and nonprofit group Upstate Venture Connect; and Doug Pinckney, one of the founders of the marketing services agency Pinckney Hugo also joined the round as investors.
StorySlab provides sales enablement tools for sales representatives selling to customers both remotely and face-to-face. Its platform tools include built-in web conferencing integrations, data reporting, offline storage of presentation materials as well as file sharing capabilities.
“Our platform makes it easy to have a flexible and seamless conversation with the client,” explained Hans Fuller, founder and CEO of StorySlab. “Whether in person or over the web, a salesperson can become more responsive and consultative, keeping the conversation active so the sales process is seamless.” StorySlab serves over 100 clients in a range of industries, including chemicals, machinery, plastics, electrical components, and consumer products. With new funding, StorySlab will expand across new industries, scale its marketing team and grow its operations.
“We were impressed with StorySlab’s vision and the Company’s strong product/market fit,” explained Somak Chattopadhyay, founder and managing partner of Armory Square Ventures. Chattopadhyay joins StorySlab’s board of directors as part of this round. “Our team has two decades of experience investing in B2B SaaS companies and supporting their growth. We believe StorySlab has the potential to be a market leader in the sales enablement category.”
The investment marks StorySlab’s first institutional funding round. “We originally started the business to solve a very specific set of problems for our clients,” explained Fuller. “Not relying on external investment really kept us focused on solutions that customers were willing to pay for and has resulted in a very refined product and a clear value proposition. Now we’re at the point where taking investment lets us build the technologies and staff that will help us scale.”
StorySlab has also had a strong track record recruiting talent to Central New York. “We recruit people from all over the country. Our team has gone to school elsewhere and lived elsewhere. We are finding, at this stage, that people originally from regions like Upstate New York want to return,” explained Fuller.
A significant part of the fundraising and pitch process for StorySlab was conducted remotely over Zoom though early conversations with investors started in late February, weeks before the pandemic flared up.
“We raised the round partly despite Covid and partly because of it,” says Fuller, “Our platform enables sales reps to stay productive whether in person or remote, and we really had to embrace remote collaboration ourselves to get this deal done.”
“In times of uncertainty, investors tend to be focused on capital efficient businesses with strong unit economics and a visible path to profitability,” Fuller added. “StorySlab was profitable from day one and has strong customer retention. We look forward to growing far more quickly with the fresh infusion of capital.”
About StorySlab
StorySlab has cracked the code on the single most important factor for equipping outside reps with technology: Deploying tools that reps actually use. The many Fortune 500 Companies that choose StorySlab enjoy extremely high adoption and thoughtfully designed tech that makes their reps quantifiably more efficient and effective. Headquartered in Syracuse, NY and serving clients all over the world, the StorySlab platform consists of mobile and cloud technologies that enable effortless face-to-face and screen-to-screen sales conversation. For more, visit www.StorySlab.com.
See our video at: https://web.storyslab.com/videos/how-reps-feel/.
About Armory Square Ventures
Armory Square Ventures (ASV) is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm based in Upstate New York and New York City. The firm invests in software and technology-enabled services companies in emerging entrepreneurial ecosystems often overlooked by other investors. ASV has offices in Syracuse and New York City. The fund’s investments include ACV Auctions, Agronomic Technology Corporation (acquired by Yara), Bentobox CMS, Clerio Vision, Good Uncle (acquired by Aramark), Jorsek, Squarefoot, Vengo Labs and Vizbee. For more, visit www.Armorysv.com.
