As the world of investor relationship management becomes increasingly complex, it's essential firms adopt CRM tools to streamline workflows, encourage efficient processes and maintain effective communication with investors. By implementing a CRM, you'll be able to successfully acquire and onboard new parties and ultimately grow your business. Over the past weeks, we have done extensive research into the market to bring you the pricing plans, pros, cons, and features for 8 of the best CRM software for investor relations in 2023.
Building deeper and lasting relationships with your company's financiers is vital for growth and increasing profits. Investors are extremely careful about where they put their money. it's the job of the investor relations team to convince and assure them of a risk-free investment. This task can be very laborious, involving many different investors that demand your utmost attention.
So how do you effectively manage your shareholders and secure sufficient funds for your company? You need an effective CRM tool. While CRMs are for the most part designed for clients and customers, they can also be used to great effect to manage investors . After all, investors are buying your company or clients' shares, so they deserve the same if not higher priority than your customers. Consequently, obtaining a CRM should be the first task of any investor relations team.
What features should you look for in a CRM for investor relations?
- Document and signature handling
A good Investor Relations CRM should have an efficient document-handling interface. Investors should be able to provide their electronic signatures on contracts, deals, and other documents from anywhere in the world and they should all be stored in one place (your CRM). - A combination of sales, marketing and customer communication features
The best CRM for you may not have the most tools and features, but the ones available must meet your investor relationship management needs perfectly. You should look for an investor relations CRM that comes with a combination of sales, marketing and customer support features as investor relations involves a combination of these three. - Ease of use / good UX
Ease of use is an essential factor to consider when picking a CRM for investor relations. Any CRM worth subscribing to should have a user-friendly and intuitive interface. Even the best investor relationship management software is utterly useless if users find it difficult to navigate its UI and use its features. - Plenty of accounting, documentation, quotation and e-signature integrations
Beyond ease of use, investor relations CRMs must provide integrations with other business management tools. Using many different software means that data is scattered across multiple platforms, making it difficult to have consistent information on all your leads and investors. Proper integrations help to alleviate this problem by consolidating data in a central location and sharing it across all platforms. - A built-in CMS (Content management system)
The importance of a content management system to your business cannot be over-emphasized. A CMS allows sales and marketing teams to publish branded and styled content on the web, ready for your investors to access. It makes publishing this content a breeze - with no technical knowledge required. It's also a platform for you to extoll your company's virtues and outline reasons for investment.
Examples of how investor relations use CRMs
Managing your investors isn't very different from managing your clients and customers. The workflow is largely the same, and the end goal is to keep your shareholders happy while increasing your capital. To that end, there are several tasks that your investor relations team must use a CRM to perform. Some of these tasks include:
- Lead nurturing
The first step to obtaining investors is identifying and building relationships with them. IR consultants use the CRMs onboarding pipeline to store investor profiles, rank leads based on win probability, and establish communication channels with them. These communication channels include live chats, email messaging, and VoIP calls. - Schedule appointments
The investor relations team will have several meetings with shareholders to discuss the company’s finances and close deals. CRMs help to book appointments, manage them effectively and send reminders to all meeting participants. - Manage deals
Investor relations involve negotiating the prices of your company’s shares with potential investors. The deals pipeline helps you automate and effectively manage this process. It creates a proper workflow for you to follow and tracks the progress of ongoing deals. - Track fundraising
CRMs help investor relations teams track funding sources and document them appropriately. This is useful to measure performance and helps the accounting team make an accurate assessment of the company's finances. - Share information
Investor relations teams leverage the knowledge base and customer portal in CRMs to share relevant information about the company. Investors will undoubtedly require your company's financial information before committing, and the knowledge base provides easy access to that information. You can also use the knowledge base to advertise your company and attract more investors.
Quick Comparison of Best CRM Software for Investor Relations:
| Software | Intro Price | Differentiator |
|---|---|---|
| Irwin | On quotation | Designed from the ground up for Investor relations |
| Active Campaign | $19 | Affordable all-in-one software solution |
| Hubspot | $45 | Excellent investor communication |
| EngageBay | $12 | Great integration functionality |
| Less Annoying CRM | $15 | Ability to organize investor follow-ups using customized tasks |
| Apptivo | $8 | Competitors app collects information on competitors |
| Altvia | On quotation | Real-time visibility of all relationships in reporting dashboards |
| Globacap | On quotation | Provides end-to-end digital ecosystem |
The Top 8 Best CRM Software for Investor Relations are:
1. Irwin
Founded: 2017
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| Key info | Free Plan: No Trial: 7 days (on request) Support: chat & email |
|---|---|
| Best for | Businesses looking for a CRM tailored specifically for investors and shareholders |
| Pros | + Excellent customer support + Effective targeting tools + Dedicated surveillance expert that gives you weekly reports |
| Cons | - May be too expensive for solo IR consultants - Needs more shareholder reporting features |
| Integrations | Salesforce, Accounting Suite, Xero, Quickbooks, and 870+ more | Pricing model* | Available upon request |
Irwin is our top pick for a good reason. Alongside Altvia and Globacap, it's one of the only investor relations CRM options on this list specifically designed from the ground up to cater to the demands of a modern investor relations team and after careful assessment, we believe it's the best of the bunch.
Irwin's primary strength lies in its ability to address four major financing problems that businesses face. By leveraging its robust capabilities, companies can effortlessly identify investors, track their investor relations activities, gain access to valuable research, and keep a close eye on changes in their shareholder base.
The tool truly shines when it comes to investor targeting. It provides access to a vast global database comprising millions of renowned investors, equipping businesses with the means to find the perfect fit for their investment requirements. Not only does it offer comprehensive profiles of these investors, including their primary investment areas and contact information, but it also eliminates the hassle of manual data entry. Irwin automatically downloads this vital information from the global database, ensuring accuracy and saving valuable time.
Understanding changes in the shareholder base is a crucial aspect of investor relationship management, and Irwin excels in this area as well. In our assessment, with its global database of security ownership and integration of consenting shareholders' personal information, Irwin provides businesses with a comprehensive understanding of their shareholder base. This will empower your IR team to analyze risks, identify opportunities, foster meaningful relationships, and make well-informed business decisions. Additionally, Irwin's dedicated surveillance expert offers weekly reports on shareholders and alerts businesses about potential risks, bolstering their proactive approach.
For businesses seeking to make insightful business forecasts based on market trends, Irwin provides access to an extensive database of analyst research . This invaluable resource encompasses detailed information about not only the company itself but also its peers and competitors. With access to transcripts and highly accurate estimates, Irwin equips businesses with the necessary tools to make data-driven predictions and strategic decisions.
Irwin's CRM tools extend beyond catering to regular clients; they are tailored to meet the unique needs of investors and shareholders. In our evaluation, the software provides a centralized location to maintain records of all meetings, calls, emails, and events, ensuring easy access for every member of the investor relations department. Moreover, Irwin offers a library of report templates that enable businesses to effectively communicate their team's performance to any interested party, leaving a lasting impression and instilling investor confidence.
While Irwin may not boast an extensive array of tools and features like some of its conventional CRM counterparts, we believe its focused and purposeful approach to investor relations needs makes it one of the best investor relations CRMs. Furthermore, its track record of positive reviews on G2, with an exceptional average score of 9.7/10 in ease of use, ease of setup, and quality of support, solidifies our belief that it is a trustworthy and reliable choice.
Ultimately, after our careful analysis and consideration, we confidently declare Irwin as the ultimate pick for businesses in search of a comprehensive CRM solution for investor relations. Its one-of-a-kind features, profound insights, and specialized investor-targeting tools make it a standout option that we think is the best for elevating any investor relations strategy to new heights of success.
Many of its users share our opinion, with one satisfied customer stating:
"Using Irwin has been a big win for me and allows me to perform at a higher level."
2. Active Campaign
Founded: 2003
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, United States
| Key info | Free Plan: No Trial: 14 days Support: Chat & email |
|---|---|
| Best for | Businesses looking for a low-cost, all-in-one solution |
| Pros | + It is simple to segment customers and track their behavior + Great for email sign-ups and pop-up windows + Built-in marketing email templates and email campaign tools |
| Cons | - Some terminology may be confusing to new users - You have to wait about 5-10 minutes to send an email after creating a new email list - Image management for email campaigns could use some work |
| Integrations | Salesforce, Accounting Suite, Xero, Quickbooks, and 870+ more | Pricing model* | Lite: $19 per month Professional: $49 per month Enterprise: On quotation |
With our in-depth exploration, we found Active Campaign to be the gold standard among affordable CRMs, particularly for Investor Relations teams who are grappling with managing a large investor base. It's an outstanding option due to its automation capabilities that streamline tasks in marketing, sales, and customer service.
Active Campaign stands out with its robust sales automation system. This isn't a typical CRM tool designed only to sell products or services; rather, it's adaptable for the specific needs of Investor Relations. Through a user-friendly flowgraph builder, IR teams can create conditional sequences that trigger a series of actions, right from conducting email campaigns to nurturing leads and finally converting them into investors. This feature solves one of the most critical issues that many Investor Relations departments face - efficient lead management and conversion.
The platform's sales engagement tool complements the sales pipeline splendidly, demonstrating an understanding of when to dispatch personalized emails to prospective and current investors. This feature enhances the synergy between marketing and sales, enabling a direct and individualized communication experience with your shareholders. A comprehensive view of customers is also provided, which can be leveraged to score leads and prioritize high-value targets.
In terms of aesthetics and UX, Active Campaign certainly shines. It's simple, intuitive, and visually appealing. This CRM offers one of the most user-friendly interfaces, helping to alleviate the usual learning curve associated with such comprehensive systems. Compared to other CRMs in the same category, we found Active Campaign's usability to be top-notch, which is a significant advantage for IR teams.
Further, the platform's customer service tool is impressive. It chronicles past investor interactions, questions, and feedback, equipping you with the data needed to anticipate their requirements. This predictive ability effectively addresses a common problem in Investor Relations - proactive investor servicing. The tool also keeps track of your most generous shareholders, enabling you to tailor special deals and incentives accordingly.
From tracking investors' online interactions and behavior to offering insightful analytics for developing client engagement strategies, Active Campaign seems to cover all bases. It's this level of control that makes it an invaluable asset for any business size, be it a budding startup or a multinational corporation looking to optimize its Investor Relations.
While Active Campaign shines brightly with its features and affordable pricing, it falls a bit short in terms of extensive reporting and analytics capabilities. This makes it a perfect fit for small businesses, though larger corporations desiring in-depth analytics may need to explore other options.
In conclusion, our impression of Active Campaign is that it's an extremely reliable and affordable CRM solution, especially for Investor Relations. Its feature set, automation capabilities, and exceptional usability make it an indispensable tool for efficient investor management. Its lack of extensive analytics features might be its only downside, but the overall functionality and affordability make it a compelling choice for businesses of all sizes.
3. HubSpot
Founded: 2006
HQ: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
| Key info | Free Plan: Yes Support: Phone, email, & chat |
|---|---|
| Best for | Small businesses looking to improve investor communication |
| Pros | + Great for companies that need extensive features + Abundant online tutorials to learn the software + Excellent email tracking capabilities. |
| Cons | - Workflows are often confusing and hard to understand - It can get very expensive when adding features |
| Integrations | Zapier, Salesforce, Quickbooks, and many more | Pricing model* | Starter: $45 per month/two paid users Professional: $800 per month Enterprise: $3200 per month |
As we delved into HubSpot's vast suite of marketing, sales, and CRM tools, we found it to be a behemoth in the CRM world, packed with functionalities that go above and beyond the needs of Investor Relations teams. The renowned CRM offers a plethora of features, even in its free plan, making it one of the most sought-after platforms today.
When considering the needs of Investor Relations departments, HubSpot shines with its stellar Customer Portal feature. This interactive interface empowers investors with self-service access to information, fostering transparency and trust - two essential factors in investor relations. What's more, the portal is highly customizable, making it easy to align with your company's brand aesthetics without needing advanced coding knowledge or professional design skills.
The robustness of HubSpot's CRM tools is unparalleled. They enable direct voice calls with leads, investors, and even team members, right from within the app, solving a major problem many IR teams face – effective communication management. Calls are not just recorded but are also transcribed, providing valuable insights for future interactions. The seamless integration with popular email providers further simplifies email correspondence with investors, making HubSpot a one-stop-shop for all communication needs.
HubSpot's impressive omnichannel customer service allows effortless switching between email, chat, and over a thousand messaging apps. The consistency of the interface creates a single conversation thread for investor interactions across different communication channels, ensuring IR teams never miss a beat. The platform's integrations, extending to apps like Facebook Messenger, Slack, and Jira, eradicate any potential communication barriers with shareholders.
When it comes to usability, aesthetics, and user experience, HubSpot outshines many of its competitors. Its interface is intuitive and visually pleasing, contributing to a smooth user experience that takes away the typical stress associated with navigating such comprehensive systems. They also offer a comprehensive set of beginner tutorial videos so your team will be up to speed in no time.
However, as we explored HubSpot, it became clear that the free plan serves as an enticing introduction to the platform. While it offers a decent range of features, more advanced functionalities come at a steep cost. This pricing strategy may lead to you paying up to $5000 a month to unlock HubSpot's full potential. However, if budget isn't a constraint, the investment is worthwhile considering the wealth of features and synchronicity the platform offers.
In conclusion, we found HubSpot to be an incredibly powerful and feature-packed CRM platform, ideal for robust Investor Relations management. Its vast array of functionalities, seamless communication management, and delightful user experience place it high on the list of preferred CRMs. Despite the potential cost associated with its more advanced features, for organizations where budget is not a limiting factor, HubSpot's comprehensive suite of tools is likely to be a winning choice.
4. EngageBay
Founded: 2018
HQ: Delaware, United States
| Key info | Free Plan: Yes Support: Phone & chat |
|---|---|
| Best for | Startups looking for an affordable CRM system |
| Pros | + Great CRM to use for Marketing, Sales, and Lead Generation + Excellent funnel builder + Automatic data entry |
| Cons | - Few drag-and-drop options in templates - No SMS Function - The workflow editor can be simpler and easier to understand |
| Integrations | DocuSign, Zapier, QuickBooks, Xero, Shopify | Pricing model* | Basic: $12 per mo/user Growth: $40 per mo/user Pro: $80 per mo/user |
When we explored EngageBay, we found it to be a versatile CRM that has swiftly emerged as an efficient solution for Investor Relations departments. EngageBay offers four different software packages, all individually available or bundled at a discounted rate. While the CRM & SalesBay and Live Chat Software are particularly beneficial for IR teams, the platform's robust marketing automation and Help Desk tools can also be adapted to your specific needs.
One significant pain point EngageBay addresses for IR professionals is the organization of personal meetings with shareholders and venture capital firms. With its intuitive appointment scheduling software, the platform seamlessly syncs with your Google or Office 365 calendar, ensuring that meetings are never overlooked or confused. This feature also facilitates investors to schedule appointments directly, enhancing the level of investor engagement.
EngageBay’s 360-degree customer view is another notable feature we found to be ideal for Investor Relations teams. It tracks investor behavior and preferences, providing you with insights into their perceptions about your company. This tool aggregates data from various online sources into a centralized location, making it accessible to the entire Investor Relations department.
Built on contact information, communication history, engagement, and lead scores, the 360-degree customer view creates a comprehensive investor profile. It constantly updates and syncs this data across all devices, enhancing productivity and operational efficiency.
The provision of free live chat software, enabling real-time conversations with investors, is another advantage of EngageBay. The integration of this feature with the customer view allows a personalized approach in interactions. Along with unlimited third-party integrations and the provision of chat transcripts and metrics, EngageBay offers a holistic communication platform for the Investor Relations department.
In conclusion, EngageBay stands out as a practical and affordable CRM solution that can meet the essential needs of most IR teams. Despite its lack of more advanced or "wow" features, it does offer extensive functionalities at a remarkably low price point. If your Investor Relations department is seeking a cost-effective CRM solution that can satisfy the fundamental needs of most small businesses, EngageBay could very well be the ideal choice.
5. Less Annoying CRM
Founded: 2009
HQ: St. Louis, Missouri, United States
| Key info | Free Plan: No Trial: 30 days Support: Phone & email |
|---|---|
| Best for | Small businesses who want to attract more investors |
| Pros | + Excellent customer support services + Easy to learn and use + Ability to create your subsections, making the database personal and extra functional |
| Cons | - No email integration and somewhat limited reporting options - Fewer CRM tools than competing products |
| Integrations | Badger Maps, Mailchimp, Google Calendar, AgileForms, Simplii. | Pricing model* | $15 per mo/user |
Our experience with Less Annoying CRM (LACRM) affirmed that it is a remarkably user-friendly CRM solution tailored for small businesses aiming to draw more investors. Living up to its name and fundamental mission, this software is ideal for businesses that need a minimalistic, straightforward feature set. LACRM offers a single subscription tier unlocking all features, devoid of hidden charges or complicated contracts. Designed with small teams in mind, LACRM also provides personalized interactions with larger teams for accessing advanced features.
IR teams using Less Annoying CRM can efficiently organize all investor follow-ups using customized tasks, simplifying and streamlining the process. It consolidates all investor data on a centralized platform, enabling a swift overview of your standing with each shareholder. This aspect can be a game changer for Investor Relations departments, providing a holistic view of investor interactions and data.
The Workspace tool, another important feature of LACRM, lets you define workflows for all events, contracts, and activities. This tool goes a step further by offering diagrammatic representations of investment leads, reviews, and onboarding, reflecting key metrics on won or lost investments.
With regards to aesthetics, Less Annoying CRM stands true to its name. The platform has a clean, simple interface that makes it incredibly easy to use. While it may not have the most sophisticated or modern look, the CRM is designed for functionality and ease of use, a quality that many IR Teams will appreciate.
In conclusion, Less Annoying CRM is an attractive proposition for small businesses and IR teams. It might lack some advanced features found in more expensive alternatives, but the CRM's simplicity and streamlined functionality make it a practical option for those who prioritize ease of use over a wide feature set.
6. Apptivo
Founded: 2009
HQ: Fremont, California, United States
| Key info | Free Plan: Yes Support: Phone & email |
|---|---|
| Best for | Small businesses with a specific set of CRM requirements |
| Pros | + Customizable fields + Very flexible and user friendly + Good customer Service |
| Cons | - Certain templates can be difficult to customize - Some of the fields do not display consistently - Creating email templates can be confusing |
| Integrations | Paypal, Quickbooks, Xero, and Slack | Pricing model* | Lite $8 per mouser Premium $12 per mo/user Ultimate $20 per mo/user Enterprise: On quotation |
Apptivo is a highly modular collection of marketing tools, HRMs, and CRMs. This software allows you to customize your experience and create the best collection of apps to address your needs. With Apptivo, you only pay for what you use and what you can use, as the number and kind of apps you can install on Apptivo depend on your subscription tier.
Apptivo features a My Agenda app that organizes your tasks, events, and follow-ups. This app displays all pending, overdue, and completed tasks on an integrated calendar, making it an excellent appointment-scheduling tool. The task system provides powerful filtering functions that sort tasks by status, priority, CRM role, and other user-defined tags. The event system offers similar functionalities and includes the ability to assign meeting participants.
Apptivo’s suite of CRM tools contains apps like contact management, leads, opportunities, and contracts. These apps help you to efficiently organize all contact information and group them based on status. You can easily find all potential investors and create personalized content directed at this group. What’s more, the competitors app collects information on rival firms, so you can devise strategies to get ahead of them.
The financials app collection contains the Fund Raising app specially designed for investor relations, allowing you to manage all funding sources and groups them based on the amount, contact information, and share percentage. It's quite similar to the contact management CRM app in that it stores the contact information of investment leads and investors. Furthermore, the Ledger and Expense Report apps help you professionally present financial information about your company.
Apptivo provides 70 web applications that will find some use within your investor relations department and your business at large. Its customer review ratings on G2 are well above average, with special praise given to the flexibility and customization options. Despite some complaints about the minimal UI and email templates, Apptivo remains a customer favorite.
7. Altvia
Founded: 2006
HQ: Broomfield, Colorado, United States
| Key info | Free Plan: No, Free Demo Support: Phone, email, & chat |
|---|---|
| Best for | Private capital markets |
| Pros | + Can be easily customized to fit the distinct processes and needs of your business + Great out-of-the-box functionality + The Altvia team has expertise in investments and private equity space |
| Cons | - Built on the Salesforce platform and constrained by its functionality - Standard reporting (in Salesforce) is a little clunky for building ad hoc reports - Steep learning curve can be difficult for novice users |
| Integrations | Pitchbook, Slack, Crunchbase, DataFox, and many more | Pricing model* | On quotation |
One of Altvia's chief selling points is the centralization of all contact information, email exchanges, and conversations. It's a private equity software focused primarily on relationships and data. Built on the critically-acclaimed Salesforce platform, Altvia is tailored specifically for investor relations. And, while it depends on Salesforce's features, it has a wide range of integrations with third-party software.
Altiva provides a virtual data room (ShareSecure) that helps you create, audit, and track documents sent to investors. This investor portal requests and captures e-signatures with ease and sends multimedia files like video and audio clips. Moreover, ShareSecure can create and optimize personalized email campaigns for your shareholders.
Altvia stores all investor information in a secure database for real-time visibility of all relationships in reporting dashboards. These dashboards double as task managers, allowing you to create, assign, and resolve tasks efficiently. Furthermore, Altvia automatically adds contact information when your team members interact with any investment lead or current shareholder.
Customers have praised Altvia's ease of use and data centralization. It has highly positive reviews on G2 and Capterra, with customer support and marketing automation receiving the highest scores. It is also multi-platform and can be used on mobile devices without diminishing the user experience. Despite its small customer base and stiff competition, Altvia is still a worthy contender for the top investor CRM software.
8. Globacap
Founded: 2017
HQ: London, United Kingdom
| Key info | Free Plan: No Support: Email |
|---|---|
| Best for | Businesses in need of a digitized investor network |
| Pros | + Built-in automated compliance checks + Ensures consistent and professional shareholder communications + Digitized investor onboarding |
| Cons | - Relatively new software with few users |
| Pricing model* | On quotation |
Globacap is a modern, blockchain-based CRM platform for investor relations, loved and trusted for its financial security. It offers several equity management solutions, including an intelligent investor CRM. Globacap relies on the PLAID crypto blockchain to store your investor and investment data. This facilitates faster payments to fellow Globacap users as well as maximum data security.
Globacap’s investor relationship software provides a powerful communication platform with automated notifications. This platform digitizes your investor network, allowing you to view all shareholders and their investment history. It also helps you collect and analyze investment data for actionable IR insight. Additionally, you can invite investors onto this platform and manage their interactions.
Another of Globacap’s features is an automated workflow that creates an error-free onboarding process with minimal human intervention. It provides automated anti-money laundering checks, e-signature support, and a customizable dashboard. This user-friendly dashboard stores all investment and order history, allowing you to access them quickly and efficiently. In addition, Globacap offers built-in compliance checks for investors from over 60 countries.
Finding the right CRM for your investor relations needs
Choosing the best investor relations CRM involves a thorough decision-making process to avoid costly mistakes. We’ve outlined the most important factors to consider and explained how to get the most out of your CRM. It's also important to consider the features each CRM offers. For example, Irwin seems like the most obvious choice because it was designed for IR consultants. Yet, it doesn’t have as many features as the other software on this list.
You must understand your company's needs and goals when searching for a CRM platform. It would be a mistake to take a CRM at face value. Your best course of action would be to give the CRM a test run. All CRMs discussed in this article offer free trials, so you can obtain first-hand experience of their operations.
Our Pick - Irwin
Irwin is specifically designed for investor relations consultants. It's very easy to use and offers adequate customer support. These features, combined with a global investment and investor database, make Irwin Toksta's best CRM for investor relations in 2023.
Meet the author
Sam Cassman is a seasoned growth marketer with over 10 years of experience as a growth marketer for startups and small businesses. He is the founder of Toksta, a research technology company that helps businesses find and purchase the best software and SaaS. Sam has also run his own growth marketing consultancy Honest Growth, where he helped numerous clients to grow their businesses, including Eventcube, Baluu, Obby, and NBM Group.
