Sansan proves business cards aren’t dead with $17m funding

Photo credit: Sansan

Business cards aren’t dead, they’re just evolving. That’s the premise behind Sansan, a startup that digitizes the woodpulpy rectangles we can’t quite seem to get rid of, and creates contact databases in the cloud for corporate users.

Sansan has just received a strong validation for its business, announcing today it has raised a series C round worth S$24.2 million (US$16.8 million). The round was joined by existing investors of the company, including Silicon Valley-based DCM Ventures, Japan’s Nissay Capital, and Salesforce’s corporate investment group.

Japan-based Sansan opened a Singapore office in late 2015 and will be ramping up growth in this new market. According to CEO and founder Chika Terada, S$4.2 million (US$2.9 million) out of the latest funding will be invested in Singapore during the new year, “to reach out to more companies that could benefit from using [Sansan’s] platform.”

The company will also continue developing its product, focusing on mobile to keep up with current business strategies, and open up the platform to collaborate with other enterprise services. Salesforce’s investment should provide a hint of this kind of collaboration. This way, Sansan hopes to expand its services to larger businesses, beyond small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

See: This Japanese startup has 14 million reasons why the business card isn’t dead

That’s not to say SMEs are any less significant to Sansan’s business, especially given the fact they make up 99 percent of enterprises in Singapore.

“In Singapore, we pin our hopes on tapping a large pool of SMEs that are rapidly going digital and adopting cloud-based solutions to enhance productivity, better manage costs, and most importantly to effectively engage their customers, build loyalty, and ultimately, grow the business,” Chika said in a statement.

Sansan says it has over 4,000 premium corporate users both in Japan and abroad. Its client list includes the Japanese government, Intel, Japan Post, and SAP.

The company has so far raised a total disclosed funding of US$19 million, not counting the series C.