Growing together: Announcing our USD$5 million capital raise
Today, we're thrilled to share the news of Projectworks’ Series A USD$5 million capital raise. This new investment enables us to accelerate the growth of our team across New Zealand and the Silicon Valley to drive new, innovative value for Projectworks customers across the globe.
The story so far
Projectworks was originally founded within a software services company in New Zealand by Julian Clarke, Matthew Hayter, and Doug Taylor. Since then, we’ve been rapidly expanding throughout New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Earlier this year, we appointed our new US-based CEO, Mark Orttung, who brings a wealth of knowledge from running a successful consulting firm.
More recently in August, we had the honor of being awarded 557th place in the coveted 2024 Inc. 5000 list, which highlights the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.
In this latest funding round we’re incredibly proud to have raised USD $5 million / NZD $8.2 million at a valuation of over NZD $100 million. The raise was led by US-based Bridgewest Group, with contributions from Mark Orttung, Punakaiki Fund, Projectworks’ founders and other shareholders.
Dr. Masood Tayebi, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bridgewest Group, shared with us his thoughts on the latest raise: "The growth that Projectworks has achieved is extraordinary, and we look to continued success. They are well positioned in a market that is rapidly evolving, where opportunities are vast. They have a top-notch management team with their sights firmly set on growth and customer success. We are thrilled to have led and completed this Series A round to fuel its strategic expansion into the U.S."
From early in our journey, Projectworks attracted strong investor support from within New Zealand. Nadine Hill, partner at NZ-based V.C. Punakaiki Fund shared: "Punakaiki Fund is a strong supporter of Projectworks. The team has done an incredible job of building momentum across the globe. They embody our distinct preference for teams relentlessly focused on building world-class solutions."
Our new CEO, Mark Orttung
After assuming the role of CEO in March, Mark Orttung has hit the ground running. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, having held senior executive positions in many highly successful companies. His track record includes serving as President and Chief Operating Officer of Bill.com (now listed on the NYSE), founder and CEO of Nexient (acquired by NTT Data in 2021), one of America's largest cloud-based services businesses, and leadership roles in GetThere and Genesys, both of which went public through IPOs.
Here's what Mark has to say about joining as CEO and of the Series A funding:
"Joining Projectworks was a natural fit. Its founders are innovators who think about problems differently, creating entirely fit-for-purpose solutions. There is a huge opportunity for us in the U.S. market and this injection of funding will fuel our expansion into the U.S., and meet significant demand in the mid-market services industries we serve. The funding will be used for a number of initiatives, including to drive global customer acquisition, increase our investment in R&D, and build out a Silicon Valley-based product and engineering team. This will all help create a powerful platform for Projectworks to expand throughout the U.S. and other markets."
Matt Hayter, Projectworks’ founding CEO and now President and Chief Product Officer, adds, "Orttung's appointment was made after I came to realize we have the product, the team, the market, and the timing to build a truly significant, global software business. We're incredibly proud of the impact Projectworks has on the lives and businesses of our customers. Mark is at the helm, I'm running product development and management, and we have the resources and team to keep spreading that impact across the global consulting industry."
A bright future and a huge thank you to our customers
To all of our customers and partners, thank you for placing your continued trust in Projectworks.
This capital raise is an exciting chapter in our story and enables us to continue developing Projectworks to be the ultimate consulting platform. We now have over 500 incredible customers across the globe using our software, and we’re proud of the value you create using Projectworks. Together, we’re building a future where you, the expert, can spend more time on what matters most.
Read similar resources from Projectworks
In a recent Projectworks Podcast episode, Doug Taylor (who co-founded Provoke and scaled it to 150 staff) sat down with Mark Orttung (who took Nexient from $30m to $130m). Together, they co-wrote The $50 Million Consulting Firm, and in this episode they shared a collection of lessons they wish they'd had earlier when scaling their software consulting firms.
Novigi has an impressive story. Since launching in 2016, they’ve scaled to 550 staff across six offices and two countries, while becoming the fastest-growing professional services firm on the AFR Fast 100 - their story is worth studying.
”When new work comes in, we have the right people, ready to go. Winning work and protecting the team, we never have to choose just one.” How often can you confidently say the same? Facing resourcing questions about upcoming projects can sound simple, but if your schedules are built on assumptions and capacity is only estimated, face it, your resource planning is under-engineered!
