Tilson Technology Management, based in Portland, has raised $3 million to fuel its growth worldwide in deploying information-technology software and building telecommunication networks.
CEO Joshua Broder told Maine Startups Insider that the new investment, which is a combination of debt and equity, will provide the company with working capital to allow it to handle the larger and more complex jobs it has the opportunity to pursue, both nationally and worldwide. He said international projects currently make up nearly 13 percent of the company’s business, a segment he expects to continue growing.
“Our average job size is increasing, as is the complexity and duration of those jobs,” Broder said. “So we needed more working capital to pursue those larger projects.”
This is Tilson’s third investment round, commonly referred to as a Series C round. The company raised $700,000 in a Series A round during the third quarter of 2013 and another $2.2 million in a Series B round that closed in February 2015. This new investment round brings the total raised to $5.9 million.
The newly closed Series C round was led by undisclosed angel investors, but two institutional investors added some follow-on investment to the mix, Broder said.
Rand Capital Corp., a Buffalo, New York-based venture capital firm, invested another $400,000 in Tilson this round. Rand had previously invested $600,000 as part of last year’s Series B round.
CEI Ventures, a Portland-based, for-profit venture capital subsidiary of Coastal Enterprises, has participated in all three of Tilson’s investment rounds. Broder declined to offer up the total amount CEI Ventures has invested in the company, and the fund’s director, Nat Henshaw, who sits on Tilson’s board, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Tilson, founded in 1997, is growing rapidly. The company has already doubled in size since its Series B round, Broder said, and is on track to double in size again by next year.
The company’s 2015 revenue was $21.6 million, and Broder projects its 2016 revenue will be roughly $35 million, representing a 62 percent year-over-year increase. The company’s growth has landed it on Inc. magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies for the past six years.
The company currently has 200 employees spread across nine offices worldwide, with about 65 based in its Portland headquarters. Tilson recently committed to a new headquarters in Portland. It will be located in the five-story building being constructed on the eastern end of Middle St., near the cruise ship terminal.
Tilson continues to hire people to grow its team in Portland, Broder said.
“2016 is shaping up to be another big year of us,” he said. “Our focus is on making sure we have the right people on the team to support that growth and deliver to our customers. It’s all about the talent right now.”
