Smartsheet Raises $52 Million to Manage and Automate Enterprise Collaboration

BELLEVUE, WA – Smartsheet, the world’s leading SaaS platform for managing and automating collaborative work, today announced it raised $52.1 million in Series F funding, led by existing investor Insight Venture Partners. Additional Smartsheet investors Madrona Venture Group and Sutter Hill Ventures, and new investor, Summit Partners, also participated in the round. Smartsheet’s last round of funding was more than three years ago. With the additional investment, Smartsheet’s total financing raised to date is more than $120 million.

This latest funding round follows a period of rapid growth in which Smartsheet’s revenue increased by more than 60 percent year-over-year for the past five years, with the company expecting to exceed $100 million in annual recurring revenue this quarter. Building upon an already solid financial position with low cash burn, the new funding will be used to accelerate investments in product, sales & marketing, and infrastructure to support increasing demand for Smartsheet’s platform.

"Enterprises have long invested in cloud-based applications that enable them to author, store, and communicate about work. But the value of intentionally managing and automating collaborative work has largely gone unrealized,” said Mark Mader, CEO of Smartsheet. “This additional funding will enable Smartsheet to further unlock this value for teams, helping people and organizations embrace the volume and velocity of today’s work to drive innovation and build a distinct competitive advantage."

The Rise of Collaborative Work Management

According to IDC Research, the enterprise collaboration market is rapidly accelerating, forecasted to grow 32 percent over four years to reach $25 billion by 2020*. The past several months have marked a steady flow of new entrants and high-profile acquisitions in the collaboration space to meet the shifting market needs of enterprises, which are looking for increased agility and efficiency.

"One of the biggest hurdles to employee efficiency is the growing number of applications required to get work done. This includes a complex web of collaboration, productivity and business applications, which often don't connect to each other,” said Alan Lepofsky, VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research. “As the market evolves, an entirely new category of collaboration solutions is needed that organizes work, not just tasks, providing structure and accountability across the vast array of things people have to work on. Collaborative Work Management applications enable organizations to reduce the noise so people can focus on the important work that needs to get done.”

Smartsheet’s collaborative work management platform is used by millions of information workers and 69,000 brands in more than 190 countries, including half of the Fortune 500. Whether it is opening hundreds of stores around the world, building skyscrapers, launching rockets into space, or managing behind-the-scenes logistics for the Super Bowl, Smartsheet enables organizations to centrally manage and automate complex, enterprise-scale projects and processes. Other customers include Netflix, Aramark, NBC Universal, Sony Music, Hilton and Weyerhaeuser.

“Collaborative work management is now recognized as a key component of modern enterprise strategy, as companies look to move beyond the limitations of legacy tools,” said Ryan Hinkle, Managing Director at Insight Venture Partners. “Since our initial investment with Smartsheet, we have seen an incredible amount of development and growth behind their capabilities. We are committed to continuing this acceleration so that more companies can benefit from the unique value of Smartsheet.”

Smartsheet has previously secured $68 million in funding from Insight Venture Partners, Madrona Venture Group, Sutter Hill Ventures, and other investors.

*IDC Worldwide Collaborative Applications Forecast 2016-2020, 2016, IDC Worldwide Project & Portfolio Management Forecast 2016-2020, 2016

About Smartsheet
Smartsheet is the world’s leading SaaS platform for managing and automating collaborative work. Our award-winning solutions deliver value for tens of thousands of paying customers and millions of information workers across more than 190 countries. Recently named to the Forbes Cloud 100 list of the world’s best cloud companies, customers like Netflix, Salesforce, the GSA, Google, and over half of the Fortune 500 use Smartsheet internally, with clients, and partners.

Smartsheet is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and, as of May 2017, has more than 550 employees in its Bellevue and Boston offices. To learn more, visit www.Smartsheet.com.

About Insight Venture Partners
Insight Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight has raised more than $13 billion and invested in more than 280 companies worldwide. Our mission is to find, fund and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on growth expertise to foster long-term success. For more information on Insight and all of its investments, visit www.insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter: @insightpartners.

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 cloud, consumer software and services, enterprise software and services, digital media and artificial intelligence. Madrona manages approximately $1.3 billion and was an early investor in companies such as Amazon.com, Apptio, Rover.com, and Redfin.

About Sutter Hill Ventures
Sutter Hill Ventures, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, is a leader in financing technology-based start-ups and assists entrepreneurs in building world-class, market-leading companies. They have significant operating and venture capital experience, strong industry networks, and an understanding of the challenges that early-stage and high-growth companies face. Sutter Hill brings expertise in strategy and business development, building management teams, partnering, financing strategies, public offerings, mergers, and acquisitions. Sutter Hill's investments include Broadvision, Vitria, Legato, Alteon, and Tellabs.

About Summit Partners
Founded in 1984, Summit Partners is a global alternative investment firm that is currently investing more than $9.5 billion into growth equity, fixed income and public equity opportunities. Summit invests across growth sectors of the global economy and has invested in more than 440 companies in technology, healthcare, life sciences and other growth industries. These companies have completed more than 140 public equity offerings, and more than 170 have been acquired through strategic mergers and sales. Notable software and SaaS companies financed by Summit include Acturis, Avast, AvePoint, Ascentis, Clearwater Analytics, Darktrace, Fuze, Gainsight, Hyperion Solutions, Infor, McAfee, Perforce, RiskIQ, Telerik, TSheets, Uber, WebEx and Visier. Summit maintains offices in North America and Europe, and invests in companies around the world. For more information, visit www.summitpartners.com or on Twitter at @SummitPartners.

In the United States of America, Summit Partners operates as an SEC-registered investment advisor. In the United Kingdom, this document is issued by Summit Partners LLP, a firm authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Summit Partners LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC388179 and its registered office is at 20–22 Bedford Row, London, WC1R 4JS, UK. This document is intended solely to provide information regarding Summit Partners’ potential financing capabilities for prospective portfolio companies.

Source: Smartsheet