New funding round fuels New Albany tech startup’s continued growth
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New Albany-based tech company Vsimple is enjoying major growth, and the company’s CEO says there are no plans to slow down. The startup, which has developed a workflow management software platform, recently closed on a $2.5 million round of funding, bringing its total amount of capital raised to $4.7 million, and Buddy Bockweg said the two-year-old company is on a path to profitability due to high demand from companies looking to optimize productivity.
“Productivity efficiency now more than ever has become top of mind for most organizations, specifically ones that are either in growth mode, want a competitive edge, or are trying to figure out how to ensure their profitability long term,” he said.
Bockweg told Inside INdiana Business the company’s trajectory has skyrocketed since its launch.
“We put the business in place in 2021,” he said. “And over the past two years, we had first year growth, let’s call it 150%. Second year growth [was] in excess of 900%. And this year, we’re looking at doubling to tripling by the end of year. So it’s continuing to pick up momentum.”
The software-as-a-service company announced in late 2021 it was relocating its corporate headquarters from Louisville to New Albany. Bockweg said the company is now in the seven figures for revenues.
Bockweg said the high demand for the company’s platform can be attributed to the current labor environment, where unemployment is at or near record lows.
“Five years ago, people were plentiful and relatively affordable. Now, they don’t have those luxuries of just hiring more people,” he said. “So they’ve got to figure out how to get more work done with less bodies. That’s exactly what we do.”
While there has been an influx of workflow management tools over the last several years, Bockweg said those tools bring an added value to a person, but not a whole company.
“We saw this unique opportunity to jump in and help companies really optimize workflows and process so that you can have cross departmental; you can now start to build really unique visibility into the day to day operations,” he said. “We can dashboard it and you can measure it, you can build metrics around trying to manage people that are now no longer within your walls. It’s been an a struggle for a lot of organizations.”
Looking ahead, Bockweg said the company is rolling out new features every 7-10 days, but they are looking at artificial intelligence as a way to move the platform forward.
“Once your operations are in a centralized space, the technology itself can feed on that data…and start to truly optimize and eliminate a lot of steps,” he said. “And then in the next couple of years, it’ll actually be working on your behalf, which is growth, right? I mean, we have investors that have put money in this business, and we have a responsibility to ensure their return.”
Vsimple currently has nearly 20 employees, but Bockweg said the startup has plans to add more. When the move to New Albany was announced, the company said it would add up to 70 employees by 2025.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Vsimple up to $1 million in conditional tax credits based on its job creation plans, but the company wouldn’t able to claim the incentives until Hoosier workers were hired for the new jobs.