TSheets: Incoming $15 million investment to fuel growth

Click here to read the Statesman’s story about gains and deficiencies in the Treasure Valley’s startup fundraising scene that appeared in the September technology-themed edition of Business Insider magazine.

TSheets, the Eagle-based timecard software company, announced it was breaking from its previous growth strategy by accepting a $15 million investment from one of the largest growth equity firms in the nation. The company plans to double to 200 employees in 2016.

Most growing tech startups do their best to solicit investor money. TSheets deliberately delayed that step, CEO Matt Rissell said. After nearly folding in the early years after the company’s founding in 2006, the company became profitable in 2014 and is on pace to surpass the 100 percent growth threshold for sales for the third year in a row, Rissell said.

Often, successful startups need to raise millions in investor money in order to grow to the point where they can turn a profit. Other than accepting “modest” angel investment in 2008, TSheets funded its own growth, Rissell said. Today, the company has 80 employees and tracks time to process $8 billion in payroll annually from companies in more than 100 countries.

“We could have raised money over last two years without problems,” Rissell said. “We were profitable. We had (venture capitalists), private, growth and equity investors beating on our door to try to invest in TSheets. we’re profitable. It wasn’t about the money. It was about getting the smartest people on the planet wrapped around your company to help grow to the next level.”

The company waited until Summit Partners came calling, Rissell said. Summit holds more than $6.5 billion in investments in more than 400 companies, including Boise tech companies Clearwater Analytics, Extended Systems and ProClarity, the latter of which was bought by Microsoft.

Summit Partners Managing Director Greg Goldfarb said in a release that the Treasure Valley has Summit’s attention.

“It’s a special place to build world-class software companies, and TSheets is proving it,” Goldfarb said.

TSheets, which recently opened a satelite office in Sydney, Australia, accepted money in order to accelerate its growth, Rissell said. The company hopes to hire another 20 workers by the end of 2015 and to double its workforce in 2016, he said.

TSheets has mostly hired from within Idaho thus far, Rissell said. He hopes to keep it that way.

“We own our corporate headquarters in Eagle and are here for the long haul,” he said. “Those graduating in technology from (Boise State University) or locals with rising careers can make a name for themselves right here at home.”

This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 10:06 AM with the headline "TSheets: Incoming $15 million investment to fuel growth."