Looking to grow beyond its roots in Google Apps, New York-based BetterCloud announced today it has raised $6 million in a Series B round led by Flybridge Capital Partners with participation from Greycroft Partners, BLH Venture Partners, TriBeCa Venture Partners, Bear Creek Capital, and Hallett Capital.
A provider of enterprise cloud management and security software, BetterCloud plans to use part of the funding to expand its engineering teams. That will help the company speed the development of its FlashPanel software for managing Google Apps—which includes software for file sharing, e-mail, and other business needs—and adapt it for use with Salesforce.com and Zendesk before the end of the year, says BetterCloud founder and CEO David Politis.
Politis says BetterCloud is aiming to integrate its software with Salesforce.com and Zendesk because they are leaders in the rapidly growing markets for cloud-based customer-relationship-management and help-desk-ticketing. “This is just the beginning for us,” Politis says. BetterCloud also plans to tailor its technology to work with other CRM and help desk software.
The ubiquitous use of messaging and collaboration software by companies, Politis says, demonstrates how far cloud-based services have come. “That’s Google Apps, and Microsoft 365,” he says. “They’re at the foundation of this new cloud stack that is developing within enterprises.” The next layer up, he says, is customer relationship management.
Politis says his goal is to see his technology as the software of choice for managing security and information with the cloud-based platforms that companies use. “This migration to the cloud is happening now; it’s maturing,” he says. “As it does these IT departments need deeper insights, tools, and security. We want to become core to an organization’s IT infrastructure.”
Founded in late 2011, BetterCloud has so far raised $13.25 million in total funding, The latest round will help its staff grow from 40 to 80 in about six months, Politis says. “We have a lot of hires we’d like to make,” he says, in particular for professionals in user experience, architecture, and product development. The expected hiring spree also means the company needs more elbow room. “We are looking to move our offices,” he says, “probably early next year.”
