Configure, price, and quote software, also known as CPQ software, is designed to help sellers quote complex and configurable products, like heavy trucks with different types of chassis and engines. Demand is high — according to Gartner, the CPQ software market grew by 15.5% in 2019 to an estimated $1.42 billion. But it can be difficult to navigate because not all vendors hone in on the same aspects of configuration. For example, some CPQ software emphasizes price optimization at the expense of product customization.
That spurred Eyal Elbahary, Eyal Orgil, and Alon Lubin to found DealHub, a CPQ vendor focused on creating “accurate” and “predictable” sales pipelines. Launched in 2014, 160-employee DealHub has expanded over the years to include contract lifecycle as well as subscription management tools, competing with the likes of Conga, Tacton, and Vendavo.
“Legacy CPQ solutions often require long implementation periods and code-heavy customization, offering little flexibility,” CEO Elbahary told TechCrunch in an email interview. “The DealHub platform’s hybrid engine delivers a unique combination: The depth and complexity of a custom-coded solution and the flexibility of a business-oriented, no-code configuration environment.”
Prior to starting DealHub, Elbahary was the head of portfolio marketing at Check Point and led product launches at Mercury Interactive, an IT management startup that HP acquired in 2006. Orgil held various marketing roles at companies including HP and Infosys subsidiary Panaya. As for Luibin, he spent time at Veritas Software and Taboola in addition to Panaya.
Elbahary describes DealHub as a “digital workspace” for buyers and sellers to engage on different components of a deal, with a “holistic view” of a sales team’s activities, actions, and insights. To this end, DealHub provides “selling playbooks” aimed at helping sales teams understand the process of configuring a quote, creating sales materials, and negotiating contracts. The platform can also dynamically generate relevant contract and legal terms, facilitating tasks like collecting electronic signatures and redlining — i.e., editing a contract when two or more parties are negotiating.
“The pandemic has forced sales teams to quickly evolve from traditional sales processes to remote selling. With travel slowing down to a halt and face-to-face meetings made impossible, sales teams were compelled to adopt digital tools. This accelerated digital transformation has increased an already existing demand for sales tech,” Elbahary said.
CPQ systems can’t solve every problem. If the data in them isn’t current or accurate, the proposals they generate could include inflated prices or inaccurate delivery times. There’s always the potential for major human error, too, like a salesperson forgetting to include shipping or delivery costs or omitting a component another team will need.
But Elbahary asserts that DealHub’s tools are more sophisticated than those from other vendors in the space, including incumbents like Oracle, Salesforce, and SAP. Mum’s the word on revenue figures, but investors are seemingly confident enough to put money behind the company. DealHub today closed a $60 million funding round led by Alpha Wave Global, bringing the startup’s total raised to $90 million.
“While headlines report on devaluations and layoffs, DealHub is growing and recruiting … We are experiencing a fourth consecutive year of 250% YoY growth,” Elbahary said. “The CPQ market is full of untapped potential, as is our one-of-a-kind offering. Our investors know this, and showed their confidence in us through this funding.”
