French startup Front raises $66 million for its shared inbox

Business communications app Front has raised $66 million led by Sequoia Capital with DFJ participating in the Series B round.

Front is a shared inbox for the workplace that integrates a team’s various communications channels like email, live chat, voice, and programmes like Salesforce into one single platform.

“Many companies have promised to kill email, but we're focused on making it more collaborative,” said CEO Mathilde Collin. Currently more than 2,500 businesses are using the software with customers including HubSpot and Shopify.

“The reality is that email is still the primary way businesses get work done. Every day, workers spend more than six hours on email, and they check their inboxes 74 times a day,” she said. “By bringing all your teammates, apps, and information together into your inbox, we’re enabling teams to collaborate more efficiently in the place where they spend the majority of their day.”

As part of the investment, Bryan Schreier, partner at Sequoia, is joining the board of directors.

Front was founded in France and relocated to San Francisco after participating in the Y Combinator accelerator. Since then it has opened a new Paris office as its European headquarters. The new funds will be invested in growing the offices on both sides of the Atlantic and expanding on product development.

It has now raised $79 million in total funding with other backers including Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield and Intercom CEO Eoghan McCabe.