Being an adult is hard sometimes. Like, when you get a press release about a high-performance lubricant in your in-box and have to be mature enough to recognize that you can’t write about it because there’s no B2B angle. And then, suddenly, there is a B2B angle, but the lube is actually for ATVs and other vehicles and well, a fun story becomes just another petroleum product in a society moving toward more sustainable ways to keep the right engine parts all slippery.

That said, did you know CRM requires more skill than online dating? I don’t know that to be true, but I need to segue in a way that would peak your interest in today’s sales news.

Outreach, one of the largest sales engagement platform providers, announced it has closed a $200 million US funding round. This round raises Outreach’s valuation to over $4.4 billion. The additional funding will be spent on strengthening Outreach’s position as a leading sales technology platform and on accelerating market expansion and growth.

“This past year represents a true moment of maturity for Outreach – we are now a mission-critical part of the revenue tech stack for customers,” said Co-Founder and CEO Manny Medina. “The bets we made years ago, including significant investments in artificial intelligence combined with prospecting, closing and customer success capabilities integrated into one holistic platform, are what revenue organizations need most right now to be successful.”

The funding comes after this pandemic year of explosive growth for online sales engagement with the global shifts to remote and digital selling.

Press release: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/outreach-closes-200-million-round-4-4-billion-valuation-for-sales-engagement-category-leader-301304239.html

Yesterday was a huge day for virtual conferences. Quickbooks Canada had its Quickbooks Connects virtual conference. Memorable moments included a session on “preparing for positivity.” Neil Pasricha, author of The Happiness Equation, emphasized how important it remains for groups – including colleagues—to “check up from the neck up,” to celebrate how people are coping and to offer support and resources when they aren’t! https://can.quickbooksconnect.com/

Simultaneously, Women in Tech X, featured Angie Ruan, SVP Nasdaq, Rukimi Reddi, VP Slack, and Jennifer Stott, CDO RBC to talk about changes that are already underway in tech in ways that are supporting greater diversity in hiring and working. https://collisionconf.com/x-events/women-in-tech-x

Following the discovery of 215 children’s bodies at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, calls for every Canadian to read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action were renewed. By the time of publication, no Canadian business had granted its workers a half-day of work time to read the document or scheduled a meeting to discuss their role in applying the calls to action to their operations. http://www.trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf

According to an Ontario-based B2B columnist, it is not too late to undertake such a plan.

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Kate Baggott is a former Managing Editor of B2BNN. Her technology and business journalism has appeared in the Technology Review, the Globe and Mail, Canada Computes, the Vancouver Sun and the Bay Street Bull. She is the author of the short story collections Love from Planet Wine Cooler and Dry Stories. Find links to recent articles by following her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-baggott-9a0306/

• B2B News for Thursday, June 3, 2021: Lube, Outreach & Corporate Readings of TRC Calls-to-Action – June 3, 2021
• Seeing Remote Healthcare: In Conversation with Terrence Tormey, CEO of Xenon-VR Inc – May 31, 2021
• B2B News for Friday, May 27, 2021: The Research Edition on Consent, Values & Construction Insights – May 28, 2021