Cognism
Cognism is a London-based B2B sales intelligence platform founded in 2015 by James Isilay and Stjepan Buljat.
Profile
B2B sales intelligence platform providing verified contact data, company information, and intent signals to help revenue teams prospect and enrich CRM databases.
Cognism is a London-based B2B sales intelligence platform founded in 2015 by James Isilay and Stjepan Buljat. The company provides contact data, company information, and intent signals to revenue teams across sales, marketing, and operations functions. Over a decade, Cognism has grown into a Series C company with $116.8M in total funding, including an $87.5M Series C in early 2022 led by Viking Global Investors and Blue Cloud Ventures.
By 2024, the company reported $83M in annual recurring revenue (up from $64M in 2023) and served over 6,400 customers globally. The company expanded internationally and acquired Paris-based Kaspr in April 2022 for €21M to strengthen its European footprint. In February 2025, founder James Isilay stepped aside as CEO, with Pete Daffern serving as interim CEO before Dominic Allon, the former CEO of Pipedrive with prior stints at Google and Intuit, was appointed permanent CEO in September 2025.
The company has since shifted its product strategy toward AI-driven features, launching Sales Companion in March 2025 as a suite of generative tools for prospecting and enrichment. As of March 2026, Cognism employs approximately 467 people across multiple continents. However, the company faces regulatory and reputational challenges, including an ongoing $525K class action settlement over alleged privacy violations in displaying contact information to free trial users, with a final hearing scheduled for December 2025. Customer satisfaction remains mixed, with a 4.6/5 rating on G2 but significant Trustpilot complaints about data quality, auto-renewal practices, and unsolicited contact from third parties using Cognism data.
Who buys this
- Enterprise and mid-market sales teams building outbound pipeline
- Revenue operations teams managing CRM enrichment and data quality
- Sales development representatives and account executives seeking lead intelligence
- Marketing and demand generation teams targeting specific buyer personas
Publicly disclosed clients
- Asana
- BearingPoint
- Notion
- Monday.com
- Deel
- Redgate
- Mollie
Strengths and what to watch
Strengths
- Comprehensive phone-verified contact database with 440M+ contacts and 100M+ mobile numbers, particularly strong in EMEA markets
- Rapid revenue scaling to $83M ARR in 2024 with 30% year-over-year growth and 6,400+ paying customers
- Aggressive AI product roadmap including Sales Companion (launched March 2025) and native CRM integrations with HubSpot and Salesforce
Watch for
- Class action settlement ($525K) over free trial user privacy violations with final court hearing in December 2025; UK ICO holds 7 unresolved complaints against the company
- Leadership transition friction: founder Isilay exited in February 2025; permanent CEO hired September 2025; customer sentiment includes complaints about auto-renewal practices and data quality degradation
- Customer concentration and churn risk: Trustpilot reviews cite 50%+ data staleness, high bounce rates, and unsolicited contact from Cognism data sharing without proper consent
Recent moves
Key Information
- Industry
- People/Entities
- Founded
- 2015
- Headquarters
- London, UK
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cognism?
Cognism is a London-based B2B sales intelligence platform founded in 2015 that provides verified contact data, company information, and intent signals to help revenue teams prospect and enrich CRM databases. It serves over 6,400 customers globally, including Asana, Notion, and Monday.com.
Who uses Cognism?
Cognism serves sales development representatives, account executives, revenue operations teams, and marketing professionals across enterprise and mid-market companies. Revenue teams use it to build outbound pipelines, enrich CRM databases, qualify leads, and identify buyer intent. The platform helps teams boost pipeline generation and sales productivity.
What contact data does Cognism provide?
Cognism's database includes 440 million verified contacts with over 100 million mobile numbers, particularly strong in Europe, Middle East, and Africa. It combines contact records with company information, technographic data, and intent signals to help sales teams identify and reach decision-makers efficiently.
What is Cognism Sales Companion?
Sales Companion, launched in March 2025, is Cognism's AI-powered suite of tools for prospecting and CRM enrichment. It uses generative AI to automate lead research, personalization, and outreach processes. The tool integrates with HubSpot and Salesforce, streamlining workflows for sales teams.
How fast is Cognism growing?
Cognism reached $83 million in annual recurring revenue by 2024, up 30% year-over-year from $64 million in 2023. The company has raised $116.8 million in total funding, including an $87.5 million Series C led by Viking Global Investors in early 2022. It serves 6,400+ paying customers.
What legal issues has Cognism faced?
Cognism settled a $525,000 class action lawsuit over allegations of improperly displaying free trial user contact information without consent, with preliminary approval in August 2025 and final hearing in December 2025. The UK Information Commissioner's Office holds seven unresolved complaints. Customer reviews cite data quality and auto-renewal concerns.
How Cognism compares
Direct head-to-head against 3 competitors. Picked by 7wData.
Cognism
- Positioning
- B2B sales intelligence platform providing verified contact data, company information, and intent signals to help revenue teams prospect and enrich CRM databases.
- Customer segments
- Enterprise and mid-market sales teams building outbound pipeline
- Strengths
- Comprehensive phone-verified contact database with 440M+ contacts and 100M+ mobile numbers, particularly strong in EMEA markets
- Watch for
- Class action settlement ($525K) over free trial user privacy violations with final court hearing in December 2025; UK ICO holds 7 unresolved complaints against the company
- Recent moves
- Cognism appoints Dominic Allon as permanent CEO, replacing interim leader Pete Daffern
ZoomInfo
- Positioning
- B2B go-to-market intelligence platform repositioned as GTM execution suite, rebranded on Nasdaq as ticker $GTM in May 2025.
- Customer segments
- Mid-market to Global 2000 enterprises; 35,000+ accounts; core buyers in sales, marketing, and revenue operations.
- Strengths
- Largest verified B2B contact and intent database with deep native CRM integrations across Salesforce, HubSpot, and Microsoft Dynamics.
- Watch for
- Strict 60-day auto-renewal clauses and reported email accuracy of 75-85% vs. claimed 95%; Trustpilot score 1.6 out of 5.
- Recent moves
- Launched Copilot Workspace, October 2025, unifying 23 GTM tools with AI agent execution for sales workflow automation.
Apollo.io
- Positioning
- All-in-one B2B GTM platform combining contact data, sales engagement, and agentic AI workflows as a multi-tool stack replacement.
- Customer segments
- SMB to mid-market sales teams; SDRs and AEs seeking to consolidate data, outbound sequencing, and engagement in one platform.
- Strengths
- 230M+ contact database bundled with native sequencing and a free entry tier; $150M ARR in 2025 at $1.6B valuation.
- Watch for
- SMB-heavy user base; enterprise account management gaps confirmed by need to acquire Pocus (March 2026) to reach upmarket credibility.
- Recent moves
- Acquired Pocus, an enterprise revenue intelligence platform, March 18, 2026, to accelerate upmarket product roadmap.
Lusha
- Positioning
- B2B contact data platform focused on verified accuracy, GDPR compliance, and buying signals for US and European GTM teams.
- Customer segments
- SMB to mid-market sales and RevOps buyers in US and European markets; teams prioritizing GDPR-compliant contact data and intent signals.
- Strengths
- Community-sourced GDPR-compliant contact database; conversation intelligence added to all plans via January 2025 Novacy acquisition.
- Watch for
- No funding since 2021 Series B; $64.4M ARR limits R&D pace as Apollo.io and ZoomInfo accelerate platform investment.
- Recent moves
- Acquired Novacy, a Tel Aviv-based conversation intelligence platform, January 6, 2025, adding call recording and AI meeting summaries.
Sources
- www.cognism.com — Company overview, product portfolio, customer segments, Asana/Notion/Monday.com/Deel as customers
- www.cognism.com — Founded 2015, leadership team (Dominic Allon CEO, Viktoria Ruubel CPTO, Chris Evans CRO), key milestones including Kaspr acquisition 2022, customer benefits and G2 rating
- www.cognism.com — Dominic Allon appointed permanent CEO September 9, 2025 with 30+ years scaling global tech companies; prior CEO of Pipedrive, SVP/GM at Intuit QuickBooks, Google Managing Director
- www.cognism.com — James Isilay stepped aside as CEO February 24, 2025; Pete Daffern named interim CEO, previously EMEA President at NetSuite
- www.cognism.com — Kaspr acquisition announced April 27, 2022; acquired Paris-based sales prospecting platform with 1,500 customers and 50,000 users
- www.cognism.com — Sales Companion launched March 18, 2025; suite of AI tools for prospecting with 440M+ contacts, 100M+ mobile numbers, intent signals and account news
- www.cognism.com — Customer case studies including Redgate (42% pipeline increase), Mollie (80% connect rate improvement), DinMo (4x ARR growth), BearingPoint (60% of SQL from Cognism)
- getlatka.com — 2024 revenue $83M (up from $64M in 2023); 6,400+ customers; $436M valuation; $129.1M total funding
- www.cognism.com — Kaspr at $1.5M ARR at acquisition, grown to $8M ARR post-acquisition
- tech.eu — Series C funding: $87.5M in early 2022 led by Viking Global Investors and Blue Cloud Ventures, with AXA Venture Partners and Swisscom Ventures participating
- www.classaction.org — Class action settlement: $525K to settle allegations of improperly displaying contact information to free trial users; preliminary approval August 13, 2025; final hearing December 9, 2025
- www.leadgenius.com — Cognism lawsuit and settlement context; broader implications for B2B data industry compliance
- ico.org.uk — UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) holds 7 unresolved complaints against Cognism
- sfccapital.com — Cognism founded 2015 by James Isilay and Stjepan Buljat