Tampa software firm ComplianceQuest raises $36M

One of the area’s fastest-growing software firms just got some rocket fuel.

ComplianceQuest, a Tampa company with software for life science firms and manufacturers, raised a $36 million Series A round led by Insight Partners.

The company plans to use the funding to expand hiring, enter new markets and invest in its technology and solutions, said Prashanth Rajendran, co-founder and CEO.

The company currently has about 90 employees, many of them working remotely. There are about 30 employees in Tampa. New workers will be hired both onsite and off-shore, Rajendran said.

ComplianceQuest was founded in 2013 and has grown rapidly. The company was No. 163 on the 2019 Inc. 5000, with $2.5 million in 2018 revenue and three-year revenue growth of 2,357 percent. The company develops quality management cloud-based software built using Salesforce technology, and focuses on two markets: life sciences and manufacturing.

“When companies in these markets produce products, those products have to comply with industry regulations and government regulations,” Rajendran said. “ComplianceQuest has a suite of capabilities that helps them meet those requirements so their products are safe and continue to meet specifications.”

The principals of the company have been in the industry for 30 years, previously starting and selling a similar venture, Pilgrim Software, also in Tampa.

“We sold that company and then we had a chance to get involved with the ComplianceQuest initiative,” Rajendran said. “It’s been largely self-funded and bootstrapped. We were profitable and we didn’t need the cash, but that’s the best time to raise money.”

Insight Partners, a New York-based private equity and venture capital firm, proactively reached out to ComplianceQuest. “We were not ready to raise the money until next year, when we thought we would get a better valuation … They convinced us this was a better time,” Rajendran said.

The $36 million round is among the larger early-stage investments this year for a company headquartered in the Tampa-St. Pete area.

Insight Partners is a business-to-business enterprise software-centric firm, with strong relationships with other companies that leverage the Salesforce platform. “We saw a lot of success with the companies they were involved with,” Rajendran said. “The principals have a strong pedigree in helping portfolio companies grow and scale.”

Insight Partners’ Peter Sobiloff, managing director, and Jon Rosenbaum, vice president, will join the ComplianceQuest board of directors.