$6M Alms for Zendesk

Boston-based Zendesk, which sells a software-as-a-service system for customer support management used by Twitter and many other companies, has raised $6 million in Series B funding, according to an announcement circulated today. New investor Benchmark Capital of Menlo Park, CA, led the round, and Waltham’s Charles River Ventures participated pro rata. “Two of our portfolio companies, Twitter and Engine Yard, raved about Zendesk, and we discovered enormous momentum around the product,” Benchmark partner Peter Fenton, who will join Zendesk’s board, said in the announcement. “Zendesk really spoke to us as a company that helps businesses elegantly respond to the needs of their users, particularly when user support has been viewed historically as a necessary evil.”

Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/