Base CRM
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Enterprise software |
| Founded | November 2009 |
| Founder | Uzi Shmilovici, Bart Kiszala, Pawel Niznik, Ela Madej, Agata Mazur |
| Fate | Acquired by Zendesk |
| Successor | Zendesk Sell |
| Headquarters | Mountain View, California , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Base CRM (now Zendesk Sell) |
| Parent | Zendesk (since 2018) |
Base CRM—initially known as Future Simple or PipeJump and currently operating as Zendesk—is a private enterprise software firm based in Mountain View, California, with research and development facilities located in Kraków, Poland. The company provides a comprehensive web-based sales platform that integrates email, telephony, pipeline oversight, sales forecasting, and analytical reporting. Base’s solution is compatible with both iOS and Android devices and was notably the first CRM application to offer a fully native experience on the Android platform. On September 10, 2018, Zendesk acquired Base and subsequently rebranded the product as Zendesk Sell.
Reception
Publications such as Forbes, Crain's Chicago Business, ReadWrite, and The Next Web have acknowledged Base for its user-friendly interface, mobile capabilities, and streamlined design.
At VentureBeat’s MobileBeat conference in July 2012, Box CEO Aaron Levie highlighted Base as an exemplar of mobile-first enterprise software.
In February 2013, Forbes featured Base among "10 Mobile Apps to Organize Your Business." Later, in October 2014, Fortune recognized Base as a potential game-changer within the CRM industry.
Base broadened its product line by introducing an Android Business Card Reader in June 2016 and launched Call Tracker for Base CRM on Google Play in January 2017.
Acquisition
FutureSimple Inc., the developer behind Base, was acquired by Zendesk on September 10, 2018. Within three months following the acquisition, the Base platform was rebranded to Zendesk Sell and integrated more closely into Zendesk’s suite of products.
History
The company’s primary product debuted in November 2009 under the name Pipejump before being renamed Base in November 2011. Founders Uzi Shmilovici, Bart Kiszala, Pawel Niznik, Ela Madej, and Agata Mazur established the firm driven by dissatisfaction with existing CRM solutions.
FutureSimple attracted $53 million in venture capital funding from investors such as RRE Ventures, Index Ventures, The Social+Capital Partnership, OCA Ventures, and I2A. In September 2015, it secured an additional $30 million through a Series C round led by Tenaya Capital with continued support from Index Ventures.
During its annual Forecast sales conference held in June 2016, Base unveiled Apollo—a sales science platform aimed at improving sales effectiveness.