Contentful
{{Short description|Headless CMS}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Contentful
| logo =
| type = Private
| industry = Software
| founded = {{start date and age|2013}}
Berlin, Germany
| founders = {{unbulleted list|Sascha Konietzke|Paolo Negri}}
| hq_location_city = Berlin
| hq_location_country = Germany
| num_locations = 4
| num_locations_year = 2021
| area_served = Worldwide
| key_people = Karthik Rau (CEO)
| products = Content management system
| services =
| num_employees = 592{{cite web |title=Contentful |url=https://craft.co/contentful |website=Craft |access-date=23 June 2021}}
| num_employees_year = 2021
| website = {{URL|contentful.com}}
}}
Contentful is a German-American headless content management system (CMS), founded in 2013 in Berlin, Germany, by Sascha Konietzke and Paolo Negri. The company and the platform are both called Contentful.{{Cite web|title=Peter Sunna, Head of Product bei Contentful - Digitale Leute|url=https://www.digitale-leute.de/interview/peter-sunna-head-of-product-contentful/,%20https://www.digitale-leute.de/interview/peter-sunna-head-of-product-contentful/|access-date=2021-06-23|website=www.digitale-leute.de|language=de-DE}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
As of June 2021, the company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with offices in Denver, Colorado and Berlin.{{Cite web|last=Swartz|first=Jon|title=How tech companies are bringing workers back to the office: Slowly and with 'social' incentives|url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-tech-companies-are-bringing-workers-back-to-the-office-slowly-and-with-social-incentives-11623282583|access-date=2021-06-23|website=MarketWatch|language=EN-US}}
History
The company was founded in 2013 and released the first beta of its software platform that same year. A previous version of the platform was named "Storageroom."{{Cite web |last=Lunden |first=Ingrid |title=Contentful, Out Today In Beta, Wants To Be The CMS For The Next Generation Of Screens |url=https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/26/contentful-out-today-in-beta-wants-to-be-the-cms-for-the-next-generation-of-screens/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629093624/https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/26/contentful-out-today-in-beta-wants-to-be-the-cms-for-the-next-generation-of-screens/ |archive-date=2021-06-29 |access-date=2021-06-23 |website=TechCrunch |url-status=live |language=en-US}} While the company often shies away from the terms "headless" and content management system, it is widely considered a headless CMS platform.{{Cite web|last=Trippe|first=Bill|title=Rise of headless CMS: Businesses move away from traditional WCM|url=https://searchcontentmanagement.techtarget.com/feature/Rise-of-headless-CMS-Businesses-move-away-from-traditional-WCM|url-status=live|access-date=2021-06-23|website=SearchContentManagement|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190518044143/https://searchcontentmanagement.techtarget.com/feature/Rise-of-headless-CMS-Businesses-move-away-from-traditional-WCM |archive-date=2019-05-18 }}
In 2018, the company raised a series D round of financing of $35.5 million from OMERS, Benchmark, Balderton Capital, General Catalyst, Sapphire Ventures and the venture arm of customer relationship management software company, Salesforce.{{Cite web|last=Lardinois|first=Frederic|title=Contentful raises $33.5M for its headless CMS platform|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/06/contentful-raises-33-5m-for-its-headless-cms-platform/|access-date=2021-06-23|website=TechCrunch|language=en-US}}
In 2019, CB Insights, in an article in The New York Times, predicted that Contentful would become a startup unicorn, valued at more than one billion USD.{{Cite news|last=Griffith|first=Erin|date=2019-02-10|title=These 50 Start-Ups May Be the Next 'Unicorns'|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/technology/these-50-start-ups-may-be-the-next-unicorns.html|access-date=2021-06-23|issn=0362-4331}}
In June 2020, Contentful raised a series E round of financing of $80 million from venture capital funds Sapphire Ventures, General Catalyst and Salesforce Ventures.{{Cite web|last=Lardinois|first=Frederic|title=Contentful raises $80M Series E round for its headless CMS|url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/17/contentful-raises-80m-series-e-round-for-its-headless-cms/|access-date=2021-06-23|website=TechCrunch|language=en-US}}
In March 2021, Contentful created an online marketplace for third-party apps as well as apps built by the company, all using the Contentful platform. At the same time, the company made its APIs publicly available to promote the creation of more apps.{{Cite web|last=Mosher Zinck|first=Barb|date=2021-03-16|title=When is a headless content management solution not completely headless? When it's Contentful!|url=http://diginomica.com/when-headless-content-management-solution-not-completely-headless-when-its-contentful|url-status=live|access-date=2021-06-23|website=diginomica|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316190918/https://diginomica.com/when-headless-content-management-solution-not-completely-headless-when-its-contentful |archive-date=2021-03-16 }}
In July 2021, Contentful raised a series F round of financing of $175 million led by the private equity arm of the hedge fund Tiger Global at a valuation of $3 billion.
Clients
Notable Contentful clients include IKEA, Jack in the Box, the British Museum,{{Cite web|last=Gienow|first=Michelle|date=2018-01-18|title=Don't Call Contentful's Content Infrastructure a 'CMS'|url=https://thenewstack.io/dont-call-contentfuls-content-infrastructure-cms/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-06-23|website=The New Stack|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106152213/https://thenewstack.io/dont-call-contentfuls-content-infrastructure-cms/ |archive-date=2018-11-06 }} Spotify, Red Bull, Twilio, Intercom, Inc. and Urban Outfitters.{{Cite news|title=Contentful: Disrupting the CMS Market with an API-First Content Infrastructure|work=The Hundert|url=https://the-hundert.com/}}