Ditching the CRM for good, folk raises $3.3 million

Born from the pain of effectively managing contacts, eFounders startup folk is ditching the CRM as we know it and wants to give us all the xRM, or extended relationships manager. In doing so, the company has raised $3.3 million in a seed funding round that was led by Accel, and has 35 operator angels on board. This fresh round of funding is aimed at expanding the team size and continued development and launch of the product.

Seeking a platform or tool that would allow them to effectively collaborate, manage and leverage their network, co-founders Thibaud Elziere, Jean-Yves Poilleux, and Simo Lemhandez couldn’t quite find what they were looking for. So, like any good group of problem solvers, they built it themselves.

Typically, we’d all turn to some form of a CRM and work with what was on offer. Recognising that the status quo is generally built for salespeople, with little flexibility for contact-centric teams such as HR, operations, and marketing, the trio quickly realised that their internal tool could very well be a highly valuable, and commercially viable, solution for many other types of businesses. Et voilà, folk.

Taking things to the next level, folk has attracted the attention of not only one of the most prolific investment firms of all time, Accel, but that of 35 operator angels. Slightly different from a typical angel investor, operator angels have put money into a company, but are also stepping up to offer mentorship alongside this investment.

COO Simo Lemhandez explains, “Having the option to pick the brain of a top product leader from Google, an expert in bottom-up sales from Figma, the person that manages customer success at Notion, or discussing payment flow with a managing director at Stripe is a total game-changer. We're surrounding ourselves with the best people in their domain by having them as angel investors.”