Why we invested in bao… Revolutionizing sales conversations

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Why we invested in bao... Revolutionizing sales conversations
Peak x bao announcement by Johan van Mil – Managing partner Peak & Patrick Strunkmann-Meister – Founder & CEO bao

Peak recently announced their latest 2.5M Series A investment in Munich-based conversation intelligence software company, bao. Our third investment in Germany right after we announced opening our first satellite office in Berlin. Since its founding date in 2017, bao has been on a mission to revolutionize conversation with sales intelligence.

Conversation intelligence is hot these days, especially across the ocean in the US. Recent investments in Cresta.ai (30M) and Demodesk (8M) by Sequoia and Balderton show market appetite. Although these successes in the US, there are significant barriers to entry in Europe due to the strict GDPR legislation. Here in Europe, we do not see such a strong player. Enough room for bao to capture the market!

What do they do?

bao is a conversation intelligence software that facilitates sales teams in optimizing sales conversion. With speech recognition and simple clicks, sales representatives record the course of a call in real-time. The intelligent call scripts will not only help sales reps with structuring and documenting sales conversations but will also assist in objections handling. Above all due to the data collection, call scripts can be optimized and sales reps can continuously improve by learning from each other. bao integrates with all major CRM systems like SalesForce, PipeDrive, and Hubspot

Are you excited already? So are we! But let's dig a little deeper, 5 reasons why we invested in bao:

1. Sales – an art or a science?

Sales is everywhere… No company without a sales team. Approximately 5% of the total population works in sales! Without stereotyping, salespeople are known to be outgoing, competitive, and strong-headed. To date, innovation was mostly targeting call centers, where you have armies of people performing standardized sales calls. This could be explained by the fact that experienced salespeople are not easy to convince, they like to do things ‘their way’. They don’t need software, they believe that every sales conversation needs a unique approach.

To some extent bao agrees. Sales is an art! But by adding data to the equation sales reps close 20% more deals! Let aside using bao overcomes the biggest pain, documentation… The dynamic call scripts have a direct integration with the CRM system of preference. This means no need to take extensive notes anymore and a smooth(er) handover to customer success teams. Above all, the solution tabs into the competitiveness of sales reps as data analytics facilitates continuous improvement on a personal and team level.

2. Future potential

The current product is awesome but the product roadmap makes us even more excited! The team’s dream is to facilitate sales teams with a no-click fully adaptive sales script. The software will listen to the sales rep only (in line with GDPR) and accurately predict the flow of the conversation. The outcome of one customer touchpoint will be input for the next and helps to predict closing probability.

3. The product sells itself

Sales is all about closing deals, a very tangible result. This is why most sales managers are so excited: with the use of bao, teams have 10% more call activity, 20% higher chance of conversion to a next stage, and 20% higher success rate in closing deals! Wauw 😍

The foremost reason to adopt bao as a product is continuous optimization throughout all levels of your sales organization. By making your sales approach more linear, bao gets new sales reps up to speed significantly faster. The dynamic call scripts will help closing deals from day one based on best practices. Additionally, the tool facilitates objection handling, helping new joiners to overcome constraints of potential customers. As a more experienced sales rep, you may not need the guidance, but the data will give insights on how to increase closing rates.

4. Commercial and technical drive, the perfect balance!

Patrick represents the definition of a commercial founder, the what we call hustler of the team. He started his career as a corporate sales manager for BMW and knows how to convince corporate clients. He is charming and has the right combination of push and patience. But without product, no sales. On the other side, you have Benedikt, a top league hacker. No doubt you would identify him as a techy when you see him coding through the night. What is admirable about this man however is his strong communication skills and the ability to zoom out and see the bigger picture.

bao Management team (Benedikt -CTO, Astrid – Head Customer Success, Jan-Niklas – Head Marketing, Hanne – Head Finance, Patrick – CEO)

5. German-based with star angel investors

Since 2019, with the raise of Peak IV, Germany is on our radar. We also learned that having boots on the ground in this market is key! Partnering up with German star angels – Alexander Bruehl, Rainer Hoffmann, Mike Simon & Michael Kofluk – who stepped in at Seed stage convinced us we were betting on the right horse. B2B SaaS expert, Alexander Bruehl (SaaSgarage), guided the bao team through their first stages of development. As a practiced angel investor, Alexander partnered up with leading VC’s such as Point Nine, Senovo, EQT, and now Peak. At his side, a handful of seasoned entrepreneurs sharing their wisdom, network, and first-hand experience.

Are you with us? 🚀🚀🚀🚀

Cheers on a bright future Patrick & Benedikt!