Vendasta Raises $40M in Capital Fueling Growth To Reach Global SMB Market - Oldies 97.7 FM

Saskatoon, Canada – July 17, 2019 / Vendasta Technologies, Inc. /

Vendasta, a cloud commerce platform for companies that provide digital solutions to small and medium businesses (SMBs), announced today that it has raised $40 million in growth funding, $25M of which was led by the Canadian Business Growth Fund (CBGF) in addition to an earlier round in May of $15M led by Comporium, Inc and Saskworks Venture Fund Inc. with participation from existing investors Vanedge Capital LP and BDC Capital IT Venture Fund. With these investments, the technology company plans to expand its Saskatoon-based team from 285 people to 650 in the next three years.

Brendan King ran a clothing store in the 1980s, sold IBM computer clones in the 1990s and joined Canada’s top-ranked dot-com business in 2000. Now, he runs Vendasta Technologies Inc., which is on track to generate $37-million in revenue this year.

If you haven’t heard of him, it’s because 53-year-old Mr. King has done it all in his home province of Saskatchewan, a place best known for its wealth of natural resources and where the technology sector accounts for just 2 percent of provincial gross domestic product.

On Wednesday, Vendasta, a seller of cloud-based software tools and solutions used by enterprises, marketing agencies, and small businesses, announced it has raised $40-million in venture capital, the largest such investment ever for a Saskatchewan tech company. The deal values Vendasta at more than $200-million and exceeds what all startups in the province raised in 2017 and 2018 combined. The deal was led by the Canadian Business Growth Fund (CBGF) and backed by U.S. telecommunications provider Comporium Inc. and past investors SaskWorks Venture Fund Inc., Vanedge Capital Partners Ltd., and BDC Capital.

Mr. King “epitomizes all the qualities we’re looking to back in entrepreneurs – he’s ambitious, he’s smart and talented, and he’s trying to build this great business right out of Saskatoon,” said George Rossolatos, chief executive officer of CBGF, a $545-million fund backed by Canada’s largest banks and insurance companies. “We think the plan he’s built is very scalable.”

It marks the single largest information and communication technology investment in the prairies since the Canadian Venture Capital Private Equity Association (CVCA) started collecting data in 2013.

The funds will be used to enhance the Vendasta Platform, including its owned and operated product suite and robust Marketplace of digital solutions. The company will accelerate its expansion into new customer channels such as banks, telcos, insurance companies and other enterprise organizations looking for a scalable technology solution to serve their SMB customers.

SMBs projected to spend $76 billion on SaaS Solutions in 2020

“SMBs worldwide are purchasing and relying on cloud-based software more than ever before. It’s projected that SMB spend on software as a service (SaaS) solutions will represent a $76 billion market opportunity in the US alone by 2020. They’re turning to trusted local experts to provide that software, and we are uniquely positioned to empower those experts with our cloud commerce platform,” said Vendasta CEO Brendan King.

An SMB who wants to move portions of their business online has to choose from more than 71,000 SaaS solutions to manage marketing, productivity, protection, operations, connectivity, and other business needs. The SMB often turns to familiar local experts, like telcos, marketing agencies, banks, media companies, and more to help manage their digital needs. The Vendasta platform helps the trusted experts bring everything together in a cohesive experience for the SMBs they serve.

“At the end of the day, we’re passionate about driving local economies and helping small businesses succeed,” says King.

Vendasta Has Built a Solid Foundation says Vanedge Capital Principal

According to a story the Globe and Mail, “Vendasta first hit upon success building a tool that small businesses could use to assess their reputations online. The company sold through service providers such as newspapers and marketing agencies, developing other software products for small businesses. Another key product was a tool that allowed resellers to automatically generate detailed reports on business prospects assessing how they fared in online search results, review sites and website performance.

The company has since shifted its strategy to focus on selling a platform that enables its customers to offer a suite of software products, such as Google’s G Suite as well as Vendasta software, marketed under the resellers’ own brands, through one online portal with a single login. It sells to 14,000 brokers, including banks and telecommunications companies, which in turn have 105,000 monthly customers, mostly in the United States.”

“The team is agile, smart, fun and they aren’t afraid of hard work. I’ve watched the company build, adapt, and over-deliver product and customer service, showing its true prairie roots of accountability. They have built a solid foundation, and they are just getting going,” said Amy Rae, Principal at Vanedge Capital.

“We are excited to partner with Brendan and his team, who are building a world-class company and an excellent culture. In doing so, Vendasta is attracting talented technology professionals from around the world to Saskatoon as they grow and scale,” said George Rossolatos, CEO at CBGF.

According to the CVCA’s 2018 VC & PE Canadian Market Overview, $3.7 billion was invested in Canadian companies last year, of which eight deals in Saskatchewan made up $16 million of the total national investment (compared to $100 million in Alberta and $29 million in Manitoba). In the first quarter of 2019, $1 billion worth of investments were made in Canada, including three Saskatchewan deals totaling $19 million.