Press Release
Oct 8, 2019, Buffalo, NY
It’s a big difference from being bootstrapped.
Buffalo-based Utilant – which grew for years without the support of outside capital – closed on a “significant Series A investment” earlier this year from Manhattan-based firm Aquiline Technology Growth. While deal terms were not revealed, a Form D filing in January indicated that Utilant closed on $7.5 million in equity funding that likely describes the round.
The deal allowed the company, which sells inspection software to insurance companies, to separate its strategic thinking from daily cash flow issues, CEO Patrick Davis said.
“You have the ability to look at the organization in a lot of different ways than when it was bootstrapped,” Davis said. “It’s really allowed us to be strategic about our five-year plan.”
Davis and Utilant COO Rob Mikulec spoke to Business First recently about the company’s growth.
The plan is pretty exciting. Utilant is creating a go-to-market sales team, an internal marketing department and a data science team that will have about five members. The company has brought in executive managers and is building out new features on its signature product, LossControl360, that makes it applicable to a bigger set of customers.
About 2,000 insurance carriers in the world qualify as sales targets for Utilant, Davis said. The company currently works with about 50 of those, showcasing the company’s opportunity.
“Our aspirations are to be double or triple the size company we are now,” Davis said. “There’s a lot of room for growth and a lot of new insurance carriers to do business with.”
Utilant moved last year into a new 30,000-square-foot headquarters in one of the former industrial buildings on Chandler Street being redeveloped by Rocco Termini.
Utilant now has about 90 full-time employees with openings in a few different departments.
“We’re looking for a person’s ability to problem-solve and work collaboratively with others,” Mikulec said. “People who are good problem-solvers tend to excel here.”
Read the Buffalo Business First article here: https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2019/10/08/utilant-using-investor-cash-to-grow-team-products.html