AtTask, a company that vends a collaboration and workflow service for enterprise-level customers, has raised a fresh $38 million in capital, led by JMI Equity. The fund did see participation from prior investor Greenspring Associates in the round.
The influx of capital rivals the firm’s prior raises. According to CrunchBase, AtTask had previously raised a total $37 million over several rounds (I made an error here misreading the information. The company had previously raised $24 million).
AtTask joins a number of companies that sell SaaS products to large customers that are raising large sums. Recently Dropbox and Box raised huge sums, $100 million and $250 million apiece. The market dynamic is simple: Companies that are selling subscription cloud services to large enterprises are ensconced in a fast-growth phase and are raising enough outside capital to push their numbers forward.
As a firm, AtTask is growing quickly, according to numbers it has now publicly released. The firm expanded its subscription base 50 percent in its fiscal 2013. The company’s CEO Eric Morgan told TechCrunch in a call that he expects that number to reach 40 percent or higher in 2014.
AtTask doesn’t view Asana, another richly backed firm operating in the enterprise collaboration space, as a specific competitor, though I doubt you would see a firm employ both across their enterprise. As a product, AtTask sells a service that conforms with a market movement I’m starting to think of as Post Email, in which toolsets are built to help teams collaborate and project manage with a reduced dependency on digital mail.
With its last round, AtTask intended to use its raised capital to expand its sales and technical staff. That’s the case with its new $38 million, the company told TechCrunch.
Given its capital history, if AtTask can hit its numbers in 2014, it could be a potential IPO candidate in 2015, though that schedule may be too brief; we have yet to hear raw revenue figures for the firm. The company is not yet focused on profitability, unsurprisingly, according to Morgan.
Even if it chooses against a quick IPO path, AtTask will have access to capital markets in a year’s time that are quite receptive to firms of its ilk.
Unlike most firms you can name that work in its market space, AtTask is based in Utah, making it somewhat unique. A big exit for the company could see a rapid acceleration of the technology scene in that state.
For now, AtTask has its money. Let’s see if it can execute.