Scaleworks Launches $10M Venture Finance Fund, Hires Former Rackspace CFO

SAN ANTONIO, Jan. 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Scaleworks has raised its first venture finance fund, it announced today, to provide debt to growing SaaS companies that meet certain business criteria as well as current Scaleworks portfolio companies.

To manage the new $10M venture finance fund, the firm has hired former SVP and CFO of Rackspace, Karl Pichler.

"Software companies have almost exclusively been financed with equity in the past. But today's software companies are much more recurring in nature and often have very stable cash flow characteristics. Many funding needs are temporary in nature, such as big sales and marketing initiatives, temporary development efforts, maybe an acquisition. Such temporary financing gaps can and probably should be financed with debt rather than equity. But the access to debt capital is limited or difficult for smaller SaaS players. This is the void we want to fill," according to Pichler.

Scaleworks has acquired 8 companies as part of its first $60M "venture equity" fund, with its latest being analytics provider Keen IO.

"With our first fund deployed, we looked for other common sense investment opportunities for companies with great products. Our mission is to turn great products into great businesses, and we think that the new venture finance fund is yet another path for hard-working founders," Scaleworks general partner and co-founder Lew Moorman said.

The firm suggests that ideal candidates for its venture finance fund are "SaaS companies with a growing, and highly recurring book of business, happy and paying customers and high gross margins."

About Scaleworks:

Scaleworks is a team of operators focused on company building, positioning, strategy and growth. Our model is to acquire companies through Venture Equity, which sits at the intersection of venture capital and private equity. Its portfolio includes; Earth Class Mail, Assembla, Filestack, Qualaroo, Followup, Keen IO, Mailgun and Chargify.

Contact: Drew Olanoff, 1-415-238-8428, [email protected]

SOURCE Scaleworks