Bellevue-based Smartsheet.com Inc., an online collaboration provider, recently announced it has secured $26 million from Insight Venture Partners and Madrona Venture Group. The company will use the funding to accelerate sales and marketing efforts, advance software development efforts, and expand partnerships. As part of the transaction, Ryan Hinkle, principal at Insight Venture Partners, will join Smartsheet’s Board of Directors.Today, more than 1 million people across 100 countries use Smartsheet to coordinate and manage processes and projects by sharing critical information securely with colleagues, vendors, and clients. Its easy-to-use spreadsheet-inspired design and cloud-based architecture is revolutionizing how groups of all sizes can work effectively together. Smartsheet is deployed in a broad range of customer environments, from large enterprises including HomeAway, DHL, Toshiba, ESPN, Sony Music, and MetLife to small and medium-sized companies such as Motion Federal Credit Union and Cypress Grove Chevre.
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“Emailing spreadsheets back and forth just doesn’t cut it anymore,” said Mark Mader, chief executive officer of Smartsheet. “Dispersed and virtual teams need a more effective way to work together, and Smartsheet is that platform. Smartsheet is, first and foremost, extremely easy to use – but it is also secure and scales up to enable highly complex, multi-departmental processes. Our continued triple-digit growth tells us we’ve built something that virtually every organization needs. We’re going to use this additional capital to further expand Smartsheet’s capabilities, and to reach organizations that need Smartsheet but don’t know about it yet.”
“Insight is a big user of Smartsheet and one of the more than 20,000 organizations who organically discovered and benefits from the work collaboration that Smartsheet provides,” commented Hinkle. “Our own experience using Smartsheet, along with market dynamics, convinced us of Smartsheet’s tremendous growth potential and the opportunity it has to be a leading global provider of team-based collaboration products. We are excited to join the team and support them in their vision.”
Smartsheet meets the demands of a modern workforce and has gained significant popularity with organizations for managing a broad array of work – from marketing campaigns to product launches, business operations, sales pipelines, strategic planning and HR initiatives. Smartsheet also offers pre-built templates and integrations with leading cloud apps including Google Drive, Box and Salesforce to ensure users are up and running quickly.
According to Forrester Research, the online collaboration software market is expected to grow significantly in the coming years as companies look for better ways to collaborate and manage projects. In fact, Forrester Survey data indicates “the majority of decision makers at organizations deploying collaboration software indicate they either use or plan to use collaboration SaaS to some extent within the next two years.”
About Smartsheet
Smartsheet, a leading Software as a Service (SaaS) company, offers businesses an intuitive online collaboration tool. The ease of use of the familiar spreadsheet-like interface, coupled with file sharing, work automation and Gantt chart features have made it a popular and highly functional online collaboration tool for teams. Organizations worldwide rely on Smartsheet to help them manage their work. Customers include construction companies, consulting firms, schools and universities, utility firms, government entities, healthcare organizations, high-tech firms, non-profits, manufacturing and law firms, among others. Visit www.smartsheet.com for more details.
About Insight Venture Partners
Insight Venture Partners is a leading private equity and venture capital firm focused on the global software, Internet and data-services industries. Founded in 1995, Insight has raised more than $5 billion and made more than 150 investments. Insight has a successful two-team structure: its investment team evaluates thousands of companies globally each year; its Insight Onsite team of consultants works with growth-stage management to provide resources and advice to allow them to achieve long-term success. For more information, visit http://www.insightpartners.com.
About Madrona Venture Group
Madrona (www.madrona.com) has been investing in early-stage technology companies in the Pacific Northwest since 1995 and has been privileged to play a role in some of the region’s most successful technology ventures. The firm invests predominantly in seed and Series A rounds across the information technology spectrum including consumer Internet, commercial software and services, digital media and advertising, networking and cloud computing, and mobile. Madrona manages nearly $1 billion and was an early investor in companies such as Amazon.com, Farecast.com, Isilon Systems, Sharebuilder, and World Wide Packets.
[…] Smartsheet‘s Mader and other regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year national program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Overall National Award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, California on November 14, 2015. […]