Piano Funding, Investors & Competitors

Piano has raised $111M across 6 funding rounds, most recently a $45M Series D in February 2025.

See full Piano profile

Last Piano funding round

$45M

Series D · Feb 2025

Cumulative funding Piano raised

$111M

across 6 funding rounds

Key investors in Piano

  • Updata Partners
  • 3TS Capital Partners
  • Rittenhouse Ventures
  • Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania
  • Sixth Street
  • aws Gründungsfonds
  • LinkedIn
  • Trevor Kaufman

Piano Overview

About Piano

Piano is an Amsterdam-headquartered digital experience platform that unifies customer data for behavioral analysis and personalized journeys. It enables brands to deploy metering, analytics, CRM, loyalty programs, and A/B testing from one dashboard. Serving over 500 clients worldwide including Air France, BBC, CBS, IBM, Kirin Holdings, Jaguar Land Rover, Nielsen, and The Wall Street Journal, Piano maintains offices in New York, London, Sydney, and Singapore.


Founded

2010

HQ

NetherlandsAmsterdam

Website

piano.io

Status

Privately held

Customer focus

B2B

Revenue model

Subscription

Piano Funding History

Piano has raised a total of $111M across 6 funding rounds.

Piano's first fundraising round was a undisclosed-stage round in May 2014. The most recent completed round was a $45M Series D in February 2025.

Piano funding rounds

Piano funding rounds
DateStageInvestorsRaisedDeal Summary
Feb 2025Series DUpdata Partners (lead)$45MPiano is a global leader in digital experience management, offering an end-to-end platform for analytics, personalization, subscriptions, and customer journey orchestration that helps enterprises identify, understand, and serve customers at scale with privacy compliance. Founded in 2010 with US headquarters, it operates 15+ offices across six continents and has executed strategic acquisitions like Cxense (pre-2021), AT Internet (recent), and others to expand product offerings, enter new markets including Asia-Pacific, and strengthen non-media customer base. Updata Partners, which first invested in 2018, led the $45 million Series D equity financing as part of a $120 million package that included a $75 million senior secured term loan led by Runway Growth Capital; the deal closed in December 2024 with Houlihan Lokey as placement agent, used to refinance debt and fund operations, growth, platform optimization, and market expansion. Since Updata's initial investment, Piano has demonstrated strong growth, including nearly 400% revenue increase post-2019 Series B (prior $22M led by Updata), platform integrations like data management with Composer, and scaling capabilities faster than competitors. The financing supports continued investment in technology, talent, and data/analytics offerings amid rapid expansion. Piano has raised approximately $271M-$396M total across multiple rounds, with Updata participating in several including Series B (2018-2019), C (2021), unattributed VC (2022), and this Series D (reported Feb 2025). A separate estimated valuation of $435 million was noted as of February 10, 2025, post-round, but not tied directly to this transaction by sources. The deal leveraged competitive lender tension for an ARR-based covenant structure, indicating reliance on recurring revenue metrics, though specific ARR or revenue figures near the round are not disclosed. Updata, managing over $3B in capital, continues backing B2B software like Piano for acceleration via capital and expertise.
May 2021Series CUpdata Partners (lead); LinkedIn; Rittenhouse Ventures; Sixth Street$20MPiano is a global analytics, personalization, and subscription platform serving publishers and brands, including clients like CNBC, Wall Street Journal, NBC Sports, Insider, The Economist, Gannett, Le Parisien, Nielsen, MIT Technology Review, The Telegraph, South China Morning Post, and TechCrunch. The company provides tools for customer journey orchestration, data management, and analytics, with products like Composer and integrations from acquisitions such as Cxense (Norway-based data management platform) and AT Internet (France-based analytics platform). Founded in 2010, Piano has offices in 16 locations across 13 countries, including Philadelphia (HQ in Bourse building), New York, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Singapore, and Melbourne, employing around 600 staff. On May 18, 2021, Piano raised $88 million in a Series C funding round led by existing investor Updata Partners, with participation from Rittenhouse Ventures and LinkedIn Corporation. This followed a $22 million Series B in January 2019, also led by Updata Partners, bringing total venture funding at the time to just over $134 million. The new capital was earmarked for accelerating growth in data and analytics offerings, platform enhancements, international expansion (particularly Asia-Pacific), and hiring world-class talent to support data-driven customer experiences for media companies and brands. At the time of the round, Piano reported nearly 400% revenue growth since 2019 and was operating on a $75 million annual run rate, working with approximately 1,000 customers. CEO Trevor Kaufman highlighted the period's extraordinary growth, while Updata Partners' Jon Seeber praised Piano's end-to-end platform capabilities. LinkedIn's involvement suggested potential strategic synergies, though specifics were not detailed. Post-2021, Piano continued fundraising and acquisitions, including SocialFlow in 2022 for under $50 million, an unattributed VC round, and later a $45 million Series D and $75 million loan in 2025, pushing total funding over $270 million. The company shifted HQ from New York to Philadelphia during the pandemic.
Sep 2019Series BUpdata Partners (lead)$20MPiano is a global analytics, personalization, and subscription platform that enables media companies and brands to drive revenue from their audiences through data-driven customer experiences. The company's documented funding history includes a Series B round of $22 million in January 2019 led by Updata Partners, and a subsequent $88 million funding round in May 2021 also led by Updata Partners with strategic investment from LinkedIn Corporation. Between the January 2019 and May 2021 funding rounds, Piano achieved approximately 400% revenue growth and expanded its Asia-Pacific presence while integrating customer journey and data management capabilities through acquisitions of Norway-based Cxense and France-based AT Internet. In December 2024, Piano completed a financing package consisting of a $75 million senior term loan and $45 million Series D equity financing led by Updata Partners, structured with an ARR-based covenant framework and used for refinancing and working capital. The company has grown to support both media companies and brands as clients, with its platform providing end-to-end capabilities spanning audience segmentation, engagement, access control management, and subscription revenue optimization.
Dec 2018Series BUpdata Partners (lead); Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania$22MPiano Software, a content monetization and audience intelligence platform for digital media companies, raised $22 million in a Series B funding round announced around January 10, 2019, led by Updata Partners with participation from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania. The capital was earmarked for research and development, client services expansion, market growth including international presence, and potential acquisitions. Piano serves major publishers like Hearst, Condé Nast, Business Insider, The Economist, Bloomberg, Time Inc., CNBC, and Grupo Globo, helping them build audiences, drive subscriptions, and monetize through data-driven personalization and 360-degree user insights. In the year leading up to the round, Piano doubled its client base by adding over 50 new clients such as Source Media and The Daily Beast, bringing its total to over 1,000 media companies. The company employed around 180 staff at the time and planned to expand its Philadelphia office from 30 to 55 people in a new 10,000-square-foot space in The Bourse. Piano had recently opened its European headquarters in Amsterdam and was working with clients like Global Media Group, The Independent, Le Parisien, and Les Échos, reflecting growing demand in Europe and Latin America amid shifts from ad revenue to subscriptions. CEO Trevor Kaufman emphasized enhancing products to serve growing clients and turn users into paying customers. Updata Partners' general partner Jon Seeber highlighted Piano's role in enabling content companies to succeed via subscription revenue streams. This 2018 investment marked Updata's initial commitment to Piano, leading to subsequent rounds including Series B-II in 2019, Series C in 2021, and later financings up to a $120 million package in 2024-2025 comprising debt and Series D equity, alongside strategic acquisitions to broaden product offerings and enter sectors like financial services and retail.
May 2017Series ARittenhouse Ventures (lead); Trevor Kaufman; 3TS Capital Partners$4M-
May 2014Undisclosed stage3TS Capital Partners; aws Gründungsfonds-The 3TS Cisco Growth Fund, managed by 3TS Capital Partners, and Austria's aws Gruenderfonds invested in Piano Media GmbH, the Vienna-based provider of metering and paywall software for online publishers that later became Piano. The parties agreed not to disclose the deal value. The proceeds were used to strengthen the company's Austrian base and expand its content-monetisation software across German-speaking markets.

Who has invested in Piano?

8 investors have backed Piano across its funding rounds, including Updata Partners, 3TS Capital Partners, Rittenhouse Ventures, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Sixth Street and aws Gründungsfonds.

Lead investors include Updata Partners and Rittenhouse Ventures.


Piano Investors

Investors in Piano by funding rounds participated
InvestorHQRoundsRoleFirst check
Updata PartnersUnited StatesWashington, DC4LeadDec 2018
Rittenhouse VenturesUnited StatesPhiladelphia, PA2LeadMay 2017
3TS Capital PartnersFinlandFinland2ParticipantMay 2014
Trevor KaufmanNetherlandsNetherlands1ParticipantMay 2017
LinkedInUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA1ParticipantMay 2021
Sixth StreetUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA1ParticipantMay 2021

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Acquisitions by Piano

Piano has acquired 7 companies to date.

Last acquisition by Piano was on February 9th 2022. Piano acquired SocialFlow for undisclosed valuation.


Latest Acquisitions by Piano

SocialFlow
CeleraOne
AT Internet
Cxense
Description
SocialFlow is a New York-headquartered social distribution platform founded in 2009 for media publishers. Its algorithms optimize content posting across Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to maximize reach and engagement. Used by journalists at Condé Nast, Meredith, The Associated Press, CNN, and BBC, the tool schedules stories based on real-time audience data. Advertising features like AttentionStream enable sponsored posts, generating revenue from social traffic for half of the top 150 media outlets.
CeleraOne is a Berlin-headquartered SaaS provider for real-time content monetization and paywall management serving German and Swiss publishers like Axel Springer. The platform processes millions of daily page views for metered access and subscriptions. Founded in 2012, CeleraOne supports AMP and single-page apps.
AT Internet is a digital analytics provider offering the Analytics Suite for websites, mobile sites, and apps. The Paris-headquartered company serves over 20,000 clients globally, including BBC, Société Générale, and Le Monde. Certified for GDPR compliance, their tools emphasize data quality control and tagging for reliable insights. AT Internet maintains long-term partnerships with media groups and banks across Europe.
Cxense is an Oslo-headquartered data management platform listed on Oslo Stock Exchange as CXENSE. It powers personalization for publishers and brands including Wall Street Journal, NBC Universal, and Aeon. Cxense's AI-driven DMP processes behavioral data for real-time content recommendations across web, app, and email, boosting engagement and revenue.
HQ CountryUnited StatesGermanyFranceNorway
HQ City
New York City, NY
Berlin
Bordeaux
Oslo
Deal Date9 Feb 20229 Nov 20212 Mar 20213 Oct 2019
Valuationundisclosedundisclosedundisclosed$39M
EV/Revenue
EV/EBITDA

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Piano Competitors

Piano competitors include listed companies like Vista Group and Unity, and private ones like Quantum Metric, ElevenLabs, Synthesia and StackAdapt.

Public and private companies comparable to Piano
CompanyHQStatusRevenueEBITDAValuationRevenue Multiple
Quantum MetricUnited StatesColorado Springs, COPrivate--$1B-
Vista GroupNew ZealandNew ZealandPublicly listed$94M$5M$381M3.8x
ElevenLabsPolandWarsawPrivate$500M-$11B22.0x
SynthesiaUnited KingdomLondonPrivate$100M-$4B40.0x
StackAdaptCanadaTorontoPrivate$500M$125M$2.5B5.0x
UnityUnited StatesUnited StatesPublicly listed$1.8B($18M)$18B8.8x

Piano Public Comps

Piano is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Palantir, ServiceNow, Datadog, RELX, Strategy, Autodesk, Verisk Analytics, Fair Isaac, Unity and Wolters Kluwer.

Last FYEV/RevenueEV/EBITDA
RevenueEBITDALast FYLTM2027ELast FYLTM2027E
Palantir$4.5B$1.5B92.6x58.1x285.0x97.4x
ServiceNow$13B$2.6B11.1x9.6x57.2x25.0x
Datadog$3.4B($588K)23.6x19.4x(137813.0x)77.6x
RELX$13B$4.9B5.5x5.3x14.4x13.2x
Strategy$477M($5.4B)149.4x144.4x(13.1x)(12.3x)
Autodesk$7.2B$1.8B6.3x5.7x25.6x14.1x
Verisk Analytics$3.1B$1.7B8.8x8.5x16.2x15.1x
Fair Isaac$2B$951M13.2x10.4x27.6x17.1x

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Common questions about Piano

When was Piano founded?Piano was founded in 2010.
Where is Piano headquartered?Piano is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Is Piano publicly listed?No, Piano is a private, VC-backed company.
How much funding has Piano raised?Piano has raised $111M across 6 funding rounds.
What was Piano's last funding round?Piano's last funding round was a $45M Series D in February 2025, led by Updata Partners.
Who are Piano's investors?Piano's investors include Updata Partners, Rittenhouse Ventures, 3TS Capital Partners, Trevor Kaufman, LinkedIn, Sixth Street, aws Gründungsfonds and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Which companies are comparable to Piano?Companies comparable to Piano include Quantum Metric, Vista Group, ElevenLabs, Synthesia, StackAdapt and Unity.
How many companies has Piano acquired?Piano has acquired 7 companies, including SocialFlow, CeleraOne, AT Internet, Cxense and Newzmate.
What was the largest acquisition by Piano?The $39M acquisition of Cxense in October 2019 is the largest acquisition Piano has made to date.

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