Founding and early growth (1999-2009)
SurveyMonkey was founded in 1999 by Ryan Finley, who later brought on his brother, Chris Finley.[17][18] Seeking a simple way to collect customer feedback and finding no suitable tools available, he developed his own solution—SurveyMonkey.[19] In 2005, Finley relocated the company to Portland, Oregon, where he and his brother Chris transported the company’s servers themselves. While the company was initially bootstrapped, it grew in popularity to a rumored $30 million in revenue.[18]
Private equity investment and expansion (2009-2015)
In 2009, Spectrum Equity and Bain Capital acquired a majority stake in the company.[20] During this time, Dave Goldberg, a former Yahoo executive, served as CEO and led the company through a period of rapid growth.[21][18] This included growing from 12 employees to over 450, and helping the company achieve an almost $2 billion valuation. The company also acquired startups, Wufoo and FluidReview (later renamed to SurveyMonkey Apply),[22][23] and released its first mobile app[24] and enterprise-focused plan.[25][18][23]
In 2010, the company received $100 million in debt financing from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.[26]
In early 2013, SurveyMonkey relocated its headquarters from Portland to Palo Alto, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley.[27]
By 2013, SurveyMonkey raised $800 million in debt and equity valuing the company at $1.35 billion.[28] In September 2013, the company announced HIPAA-compliant features for premium subscription holders.[29]
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.[30]
In 2017, the company moved again, establishing a new, larger headquarters in San Mateo at One Curiosity Way.[31]
Goldberg died in 2015.[32]
Product growth & diversification (2015-2020)
Following Goldberg’s death, in May 2015, Zander Lurie was named interim executive chairman of SurveyMonkey. He had served on SurveyMonkey’s board since 2009.[33][34]
On August 3, 2015, Bill Veghte replaced Goldberg as SurveyMonkey CEO. Veghte held top positions at HP and Microsoft.[35] Veghte left the role after fewer than 6 months due to strategic differences with investors and was replaced by Zander Lurie in January 2016.[36] The company expanded into new lines of business, acquiring several startups, including Usabilla, a website and app survey company, and GetFeedback, a customer experience company.[37][38]
IPO and Rebrand to Momentive (2018-2023)
SurveyMonkey went public on the Nasdaq under the ticker SVMK in September 2018.[41] At the time, board members included Serena Williams, Brad Smith, David Ebersman, and Sheryl Sandberg.[42][43] Emory University Goizueta Business School dean Erika James joined the SurveyMonkey board of directors in 2018, creating Gender Parity on the company's board.[44][45]
After the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, 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.
Acquisition and Return to SurveyMonkey Brand (2023-present)
In March 2023, STG acquired Momentive in a $1.5 billion all-cash transaction.[50][51] Following the acquisition, the company returned to the SurveyMonkey brand to unify the company's portfolio under a single brand, and Eric Johnson was named CEO.[52][53]
As of 2025, the company has physical locations in San Mateo, California, United States; Portland, Oregon, United States; Ottawa, Canada; Dublin, Ireland; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Padua, Italy; and Bengaluru, India; and Heredia, Costa Rica.[7][54][55]
Acquisitions
In 2015, SurveyMonkey acquired TechValidate, a Canadian marketing content automation company and Renzu Inc.[58][6]
The company has acquired six other survey tools: GetFeedback,[38] Usabilla,[59] Fluidware,[60] Precision Polling, Wufoo, and Zoomerang, as well as a 49.9 percent stake in the UK-based Clicktools.[61]
