Type of business Private President Brian Distelburger Revenue 124.3 million USD (2015) Written in Java | Chairman Michael Walrath Industry Internet Employees 600 (October 2016) Number of employees 600 (October 2016) | |
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Type of site Digital Knowledge Engine Founded November 28, 2006
(10 years ago) (2006-11-28) CEO Howard Lerman (28 Nov 2006–) Headquarters New York City, New York, United States Founders Howard Lerman, Brian Distelburger, Brent Metz Profiles | ||
Yext is a New York City technology company that gives businesses control over the digital knowledge about their people, places, products across the digital ecosystem. Businesses use Yext to update the public facts about their brands across Yext's PowerListings Network of 100+ maps, apps, search engines, intelligent GPS systems, digital assistants, vertical directories, and social networks, including Google, Apple, Facebook, Bing, and Yahoo, all from one cloud-based platform called the Yext Knowledge Engine. The company was founded in 2006 by Howard Lerman, Brian Distelburger, and Brent Metz. Yext customers include businesses of all sizes, including Fortune 500 companies to marketing agencies. As of January 2017, Yext's annual revenue was $124 million.
Contents
Yext constantly reinvents
History
Yext was founded in 2006 as a local advertising business. By 2009, it was generating $20 million in revenues and had moved to a billing model based on generating leads via a pay-per-call model. Recognizing as it grew that digital knowledge online and in maps was often incorrect and that businesses were powerless to fix it, Yext launched Listings in 2011 (then called PowerListings) to give businesses control over the public facts about their own brands. In August 2012, the company sold its pay-per-call business to IAC's CityGrid Media in order to focus on Listings. Lerman later explained the sale as part of his investment strategy: "You should only take big bets in technology." By that time, Yext had raised $65.8 million in funding and handled 950,000 updates for 50,000 businesses. Investors include Sutter Hill Ventures, Institutional Venture Partners, and WGI investments. By 2016, the company had $89 million in revenue and had expanded its offices at One Madison Avenue to 95,000 square feet. Yext's Knowledge Engine now offers a suite of products, expanding the company's services beyond just business listings.
Yext has been featured on the Inc. 5000 List (2015, 2016), Forbes' Most Promising Companies List (2014 and 2015), Fortune's Great Places to Work List (2014, 2015, 2016), Crain's Fast 50 List (2014 and 2015), and CNBC's Top 50 Disruptors List (2014). Yext was also named in Fortune’s 2016 list of best workplaces for millennials and Fortune's 2017 list of best places to work in technology.
Yext filed for an initial public offering on March 13, 2017.