Megabuyte, the highly-regarded ‘go to’ source of market intelligence for the IT Service, software and telecoms industries, comment on the latest investment in Invenias.
Invenias raises $2m to fuel international growth Provider of software to the executive search and strategic recruitment sector Invenias has raised an additional $2.0m from its existing backer MMC Ventures, bringing total external funding to date to $4.0m.
Invenias noted that the business continued to grow rapidly in 2014, through releasing new products and gaining customers from more established vendors. The additional funding will be used to accelerate global expansion, particularly in the US.
Founded in 2005, Reading-headquartered Invenias provides Cloud-based desktop and mobile applications that enable executive search firms, specialist recruitment companies and enterprise recruitment organisations to create and manage an assignment workspace, candidate database and CRM platform. It also contains custom reporting and analytics tools to give insight into business operations, and is fully integrated with Microsoft Outlook, as well as web and social networking sites.
Invenias generates revenues by billing on a per user per month all-inclusive (ie. Includes desktop, web and mobile apps) basis, which provides a highly visible revenue stream. The company’s growth record has been impressive to say the least with annualised recurring revenues growing by 90% in 2011 and 2012, followed by an increase of 52% in 2013 to £1.8m. It is clear that the business has continued to grow rapidly in 2014, with Invenias winning in excess of 200 new customers globally, bringing the total to around 600. The new funding round will be primarily used to address the strong demand for Invenias in the US market, starting with the opening of a new office in San Francisco in early 2015.
The business already has an office in New York, along with other international offices in Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and its Reading headquarters. First thoughts Invenias is turning out to be a true Thames Valley success story, highlighted by its continued strong financial performance and through its customer base growing by 50% in the last year alone.
The executive search niche has been slower to move to newer Cloud-based technologies than wider human capital management software space. As a result, Invenias is clearly benefiting from a first mover advantage. In the UK the company’s closest competitor, AIM-listed Dillistone Systems (revenues circa £8m and £19m market cap), has been slow to adapt to a changing market, which has provided Invenias with the opportunity to complete a number of competitive displacements. Meanwhile, similar opportunities have emerged in the US, where privately-held Cluen is viewed as the incumbent.