SurveyMonkey Inc. (formerly Momentive Global Inc. from 2021 to 2023) is an
experience management company that offers cloud-based software in brand insights, market insights, product experience, employee experience, customer experience, online survey development, and a suite of paid back-end programs.
Along with its
San Mateo, California
San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...
headquarters in leased space at
Franklin Templeton Investments
Franklin Resources, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment management holding company that, together with its subsidiaries, is referred to as Franklin Templeton; it is a global investment firm founded in New York ...
headquarters,
SurveyMonkey also has offices in
Portland,
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
,
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, and
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
. , SurveyMonkey employed around 1,400 people.
On June 9, 2021, SurveyMonkey announced its rebrand to Momentive with the intent to better represent their
business-to-business product suite. SurveyMonkey continued to operate as a subsidiary survey platform. The Momentive Inc. product portfolio included Momentive, GetFeedback, and SurveyMonkey.
In June 2023, the company rebranded itself back to SurveyMonkey after being acquired by an investor group led by
Symphony Technology Group.
History
Founding
SurveyMonkey was founded by Ryan Finley and Chris Finley in 1999. In 2009,
Spectrum Equity and
Bain Capital acquired a majority interest in the company. The same year,
Dave Goldberg joined SurveyMonkey as CEO.
The company went public under the name SurveyMonkey (
Nasdaq
The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...
: SVMK) on September 25, 2018.
Expansion
In 2010, the company received $100 million in debt financing from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. By 2013, SurveyMonkey raised $800 million in debt and equity valuing the company at $1.35 billion. In September 2013, the company announced HIPAA-compliant features for premium subscription holders.
In 2014, the company raised $250 million in equity financing from Google Capital (now CapitalG),
Tiger Global Management, Baillie Gifford, T. Rowe Price and Morgan Stanley.
Dave Goldberg died in May 2015, and
Zander Lurie was named chairman of the board in July of the same year.
On August 3, 2015, Bill Veghte replaced Goldberg as SurveyMonkey CEO. Veghte held top posts at HP and Microsoft. Veghte left the role after fewer than 6 months due to strategic differences with investors and was replaced by Zander Lurie in January 2016.
In February 2016, SurveyMonkey began polling public opinion using the SurveyMonkey platform.
Poll aggregator ''
FiveThirtyEight'' gives the poll a 'C' rating.
In 2017, the company rolled out "SurveyMonkey Genius" which estimates survey performance and makes actionable suggestions to increase survey effectiveness. In August, the company launched "SurveyMonkey CX" which assists organizations in managing their customer experience programs.
On September 26, 2018, SurveyMonkey (SVMK) made its debut on the NASDAQ Exchange. The stock launched at $12 per share and rose 43% on the first day of trading.
Emory University
Goizueta Business School dean Erika James joined the SurveyMonkey board of directors in 2018, creating Gender Parity on the company's board.
Acquisitions
The company has acquired three other survey tools: Precision Polling, Wufoo, and Zoomerang, as well as a 49.9 percent stake in the UK-based Clicktools.
In August 2014, SurveyMonkey acquired Canadian company Fluidware, the creator of FluidSurveys.com and FluidReview.com.
SurveyMonkey acquired TechValidate, a Canadian marketing content automation company in August 2015.
By March 2019, SurveyMonkey acquired Usabilla, an
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
-based website and app survey company, for $80 million in cash and stock. That same year, SurveyMonkey acquired GetFeedback, a
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
-based customer experience management company, in August.
Transition to Momentive and buyout offers

On June 9, 2021, SurveyMonkey announced its rebrand as Momentive, a new entity that encompasses experience management and corporate insights solutions across a suite of products. Momentive includes SurveyMonkey, GetFeedback, and Momentive Insights.
On October 28, 2021,
Zendesk announced that it had agreed to acquire MomentiveAI for about $4.1 billion, in an all-stock deal.
Chief executive Mikkel Svane of Zendesk said of the acquisition, "We have a big overlap in customers. It's incredibly powerful. And we believe that it will create a whole new, richer picture of your customers," according to Reuters. Although shareholders of Momentive Global Inc. approved the deal, Zendesk's shareholders voted against the acquisition.
Subsequently the deal was terminated.
In March 2023, a private equity consortium led by
Symphony Technology Group agreed to acquire Momentive in an all-cash deal valued at $1.5billion.
The acquisition was completed in June that year.
After the emergency phase of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, SurveyMonkey used its own survey product to determine its employees' preferences as to their working arrangements. 84% voted for a flexible work policy, 81% wanted to work from home up to three days per week, and only 5% preferred to be back in the office all the time.
[ This article incorrectly states that Franklin Templeton Investments' headquarters is located four miles away from Bay Meadows in downtown San Mateo; it is actually located only about a half mile east of Bay Meadows.] In September 2024, SurveyMonkey downsized its leased headquarters space from 120,000 feet in a
Bay Meadows office building to 60,000 square feet in
Franklin Templeton Investments
Franklin Resources, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment management holding company that, together with its subsidiaries, is referred to as Franklin Templeton; it is a global investment firm founded in New York ...
's headquarters building.
See also
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Comparison of survey software
Software tools for surveys are varied, ranging from desktop applications to complex web systems for monitoring consumer behaviour. The tables includes general and technical information for notable Computer-assisted survey information collection ...
References
External links
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Companies based in San Mateo, California
Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Software companies of the United States
Cloud computing providers
Polling companies
Software companies established in 1999
Internet properties established in 1999
American companies established in 1999
1999 establishments in Oregon
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
2018 initial public offerings
2023 mergers and acquisitions
Bain Capital companies