Podium
Podium sells an AI-powered lead generation, messaging, reviews and payments platform to local businesses such as auto dealers, home services, healthcare and retail.
Podium is a private SaaS company that began by making online reviews easy to collect by text. It has grown into an AI lead-management and customer-communication platform. This includes an "AI Employee" that replies to leads, plus messaging, reviews, payments and text marketing. It sells subscriptions to local, multi-location businesses. It was founded in 2014 by Eric Rea and Dennis Steele, and raised a $201M round in 2021 at a $3B valuation. Total funding is about $420–440M, depending on the source. Estimated revenue was about $220M in 2024, and headcount was about 1,450–1,500 in 2025–26.
