Looking to Increase Its Growth, Broadwick Lands $500,000 in Financing

Broadwick

has landed $500,000 in funding from

NC ICDEA

and is en route to closing on as much as $4 million in coming months.

Broadwick, a web-based email software developer that launched operations in 2003 and is already profitable, decided to take outside funding in a bid to speed up the company's growth, Chief Executive Officer Ryan Allis told WRAL Local Tech Wire.

"Right now we are profitable, but we see opportunities for growth in our space," Allis said. "We see change coming in the technology, and we want to be at the front edge of the next generation of e-marketing and communications."

Citing research from Jupiter Communications that shows email marketing hitting revenues of $6.1 billion in 2008, which is more than double the estimate for 2006, Allis said Broadwick wants to have the resources and technology to capitalize on that growth.

"We are also attacking some other markets, including blog management and customer relationship management," he explained.

Broadwick is preparing to release a new version of its IntelliContact email product this summer that will enable what Allis called "multi-channel management" for marketing communications.

"We also intend to launch a web service that will include RSS (really simple syndication) feeds, blogs, email and mobile email. Customers can use one tool to deliver their information over whatever channel your subscribers want to use."

Another Broadwick offering is IntelliCampaign, which is designed for large organizations.

Customers include International Paper, Super 8 Motel, Symantec, AT&T, Vonage, Re/Max, United Colors of Benetton, and Viacom.

Broadwick intends to hire additional staff - four to five people initially - and increase its marketing efforts with the NC IDEA funding, Allis said.

The company is also raising between $3 million and $4 million in "A" round financing and expects to close on the funding over the next few months, he added.

W. Merrett Moore, vice president of NC IDEA (Innovative Development for Economic Advancement), will join Broadwick's board as part of the investment.

"NC IDEA is very excited by the potential of Broadwick to re-define the one-to-many emarketing communications industry," Moore said in a statement. "We're glad to add Broadwick to our list of portfolio companies and look forward to helping Broadwick expand into the next IT success story in the Triangle in the coming years."

Broadwick already has more than 4,700 customers and more than 35,000 users.

The company began expanding its management team three weeks ago, hiring Tim Oakley as its chief financial officer. Oakley was CFO at OpenSite between 1998-2000 before the company was acquired.

At age 44, Oakley is the second oldest among Broadwick's management team. Many of the company's leaders are young, such as Allis who helped launch the company at age 19 and is now 21.

"We can actually have champagne at a party this Friday," Allis said with a laugh. "I can legally drink."