Calendly, Inc.
American technology company providing scheduling automation software and meeting coordination platform.
Company Type
private
Founded
2013
Headquarters
Atlanta, Georgia, USA (Remote-first)
About Calendly, Inc.
Who owns Calendly?
Calendly is privately owned by founder Tope Awotona (majority shareholder) and venture capital investors including OpenView Venture Partners and Iconiq Growth. Tope Awotona serves as CEO. The company is not publicly traded.
Calendly is privately owned by founder Tope Awotona (majority shareholder) and venture capital investors including OpenView Venture Partners and Iconiq Growth. Tope Awotona serves as CEO. The company is not publicly traded.
How did Calendly get started?
Calendly was founded in 2013 by Tope Awotona, a Nigerian-American entrepreneur who was frustrated by the time wasted scheduling sales calls. He founded the company with his personal savings and a small business loan, working out of the Atlanta Tech Village startup incubator.
Calendly was founded in 2013 by Tope Awotona, a Nigerian-American entrepreneur who was frustrated by the time wasted scheduling sales calls. He founded the company with his personal savings and a small business loan, working out of the Atlanta Tech Village startup incubator.
Is Calendly publicly traded?
No, Calendly is privately held. The company raised $350 million in January 2021 at a $3 billion valuation but has not gone public.
No, Calendly is privately held. The company raised $350 million in January 2021 at a $3 billion valuation but has not gone public.
How much does Calendly cost?
Calendly offers a free plan for individuals, a Standard plan at approximately $10/month per user, a Teams plan at approximately $16/month per user, and Enterprise plans with custom pricing.
Calendly offers a free plan for individuals, a Standard plan at approximately $10/month per user, a Teams plan at approximately $16/month per user, and Enterprise plans with custom pricing.
What is Calendly used for?
Calendly is used for scheduling automation, allowing users to share a link that lets others book meetings directly on their calendar without back-and-forth email exchanges. It integrates with Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, and hundreds of other tools.
Calendly is used for scheduling automation, allowing users to share a link that lets others book meetings directly on their calendar without back-and-forth email exchanges. It integrates with Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, and hundreds of other tools.
History of Calendly, Inc.
Calendly was founded in 2013 by Tope Awotona, a Nigerian-American entrepreneur who had previously worked as a salesperson at Dell EMC. Awotona was frustrated by the time wasted scheduling sales calls through back-and-forth emails and envisioned a simpler solution: a link that prospects could click to book time directly on his calendar.
Awotona founded Calendly with his personal savings and a small business loan, working out of the Atlanta Tech Village startup incubator. He hired Kyiv, Ukraine-based development firm Railsware to build the initial software platform. Calendly launched in 2013 with a freemium model, offering a free tier for individual users and paid plans for teams and enterprises.
Calendly grew steadily through the mid-2010s through word-of-mouth and viral sharing. The product's viral loop was inherent in its design: every time a Calendly user sent a scheduling link, the recipient was exposed to the product. This viral mechanism drove organic growth without heavy marketing spend.
In January 2021, Calendly raised $350 million in a funding round led by OpenView Venture Partners and Iconiq Growth at a reported $3 billion valuation. This was Calendly's first external funding round, remarkable given that the company had grown to significant scale without outside investment. The funding round made Calendly one of Atlanta's most valuable technology startups and one of the most valuable bootstrapped-to-funded companies in recent memory.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Awotona closed the company's Atlanta headquarters and transitioned to a fully remote workforce, reflecting the shift to remote work that also drove demand for Calendly's scheduling tools.
In 2022, Calendly gained significant viral attention when a debate on Twitter about the etiquette of sending Calendly links (some users found it impersonal) led to widespread discussion and increased sign-ups. The controversy demonstrated the product's cultural penetration.
Calendly has continued to expand its platform with new features including routing forms (directing meeting requests to the right team member), collective scheduling, and integrations with CRM systems like Salesforce and HubSpot.
Brands Owned by Calendly, Inc.
Calendly, Inc. owns 1 brand in our database.
Calendly, Inc. Ownership: Pros & Cons
Advantages
- +Market leader in scheduling automation with strong brand recognition
- +Viral product design drives organic user acquisition with low marketing costs
- +Founder Tope Awotona holds majority ownership, maintaining founder-led vision
- +Broad integration ecosystem (Google, Microsoft, Zoom, Salesforce, HubSpot)
- +$3 billion valuation (2021) reflects strong investor confidence
Considerations
- -Competition from Microsoft Bookings and Google Calendar's built-in scheduling features
- -Pressure to convert free users to paid subscribers
- -$3 billion valuation may be difficult to justify in a post-2021 SaaS valuation environment
- -Dependence on integration platforms for core functionality
- -Potential IPO or acquisition pressure from venture capital investors
Frequently Asked Questions About Calendly, Inc.
Who owns Calendly?
Calendly is privately owned by founder Tope Awotona (majority shareholder) and venture capital investors including OpenView Venture Partners and Iconiq Growth. Tope Awotona serves as CEO. The company is not publicly traded.
How did Calendly get started?
Calendly was founded in 2013 by Tope Awotona, a Nigerian-American entrepreneur who was frustrated by the time wasted scheduling sales calls. He founded the company with his personal savings and a small business loan, working out of the Atlanta Tech Village startup incubator.
Is Calendly publicly traded?
No, Calendly is privately held. The company raised $350 million in January 2021 at a $3 billion valuation but has not gone public.
How much does Calendly cost?
Calendly offers a free plan for individuals, a Standard plan at approximately $10/month per user, a Teams plan at approximately $16/month per user, and Enterprise plans with custom pricing.
What is Calendly used for?
Calendly is used for scheduling automation, allowing users to share a link that lets others book meetings directly on their calendar without back-and-forth email exchanges. It integrates with Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, and hundreds of other tools.
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