[ad_1]
When Bay Area software startup Groove set up a satellite location in San Diego about two years ago, Chief Executive Chris Rothstein only imagined a store.
However, Groove was fortunate to have local employees. Some of the existing workforce was relocated to San Diego. “Then we hired some people who were in New York at the time and said, hey, we have offices in San Diego or San Francisco and they chose San Diego,” said Rothstein.
Today, roughly two-thirds of Groove’s 110 employees live in the area – making it the company’s largest outpost to survive the pandemic. It reopened the San Diego facility for personal work it didn’t do elsewhere.
Groove now plans to double its workforce in the region thanks to a new $ 45 million venture capital financing round announced Thursday. It is particularly keen to expand its software engineering and development staff here.
Even Rothstein recently moved to San Diego with his family. The same goes for most of the executive team, although Groove’s official headquarters remain in San Francisco.
For a subscription software startup, not long ago it would have been risky to plant these kinds of roots in San Diego.
Silicon Valley is the global heart of tech venture capital – the lifeblood of young companies. In addition, it is a breeding ground for executives who have already built successful businesses. ServiceNow, the digital workflow software giant, valued at $ 131 billion today, was founded in San Diego but moved to Santa Clara in 2011 after hiring a Bay Area-based CEO to help it grow rapidly support.
But in those days the capital markets have changed, said Rothstein. Not only is more venture capital available, but investors are deploying it across the country – especially in technology centers. There is already a cluster of several well-funded subscription software companies with bridgeheads in San Diego, including Seismic, Cloudbeds, and Clickup.
Groove was founded in 2014 by Rothstein, Alexander Kerschhofer and Austin Wang and offers digital tools to support the sales force of large companies. It syncs with Salesforce and is a partner of San Diego’s Seismic, which provides a different set of tools to aid sales.
“It’s great that two of the emerging technology platforms for everything to do with sales now have a direct presence in San Diego,” said Rothstein, who previously worked at Google.
Driven by the growth in digital sales during the pandemic, Groove says its annual recurring revenue has increased 114 percent over the past 12 months. New customers include Activision, iHeartMedia, LexisNexis, New Relic, TIBCO, Veeva and Wintrust.
The company’s Series B funding round was led by Viking Global Investors. Existing investors Capital One Ventures, Level Equity, Quest Venture Partners and Uncork Capital also participated. This brings the total funding raised by Groove to $ 57 million.
Viking Global Capital, a large venture fund, also invested in San Diego’s Cloudbeds, which makes software for the hospitality industry. “It’s interesting that you and Softbank have several big deals here now,” said Mike Krenn, head of the Connect / San Diego Venture Group. “Another good sign for San Diego.”
[ad_2]
Source link
