Oris4, the Halifax software company that has developed a cloud-based document-organization system, has raised $1.3 million in funding from Nova Scotia Business Inc. and GrowthWorks Atlantic.
NSBI announced Wednesday it would make its first investment of $1 million in the company, whose corporate name is 2nd Act Innovations. GrowthWorks invested in the company previously and has added to its stake with a $300,000 investment.
The funding comes as the company is increasing its reach in the U.S. with the opening of its first New York office. The firm already has a presence in Silicon Valley, where its CEO, Reza Kazemipour, is based.
“There’s so much opportunity right now in terms of Oris4,” said president and co-founder Peter Hickey in an interview. “There are so many people that have seen Oris4, tried it and like it. They’re pulling for Oris4 and are putting money into it.”
Hickey and co-founder Andrew Doyle established the company three years ago to commercialize document-sorting software they had developed. They later moved the product to the cloud and focused on creating an international leadership team.
Doyle, whose background is in marketing and advertising, recently left Oris4 to become the senior vice-president at M5 Marketing Communications in Halifax. He retains his stake in Oris4.
In 2012-13, Oris4 last year secured its first round of funding, including equity investments of $250,000 from Innovacorp, Nova Scotia’s innovation agency, and $600,000 from GrowthWorks Atlantic. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency lent the company $150,000 and a group of angel investors rounded out the funding. Precipice Capital, a Dartmouth investment boutique led by Chris Dobbin, advised Oris4 on that financing.
The company has developed the Oris4 Enterprise Content Manager, which allows organizations to organize, store and find their documents. The company moved its product onto the cloud a little over a year ago, and sales are beginning to pick up.
“This investment will help the company deliver on the deals they have closed, as well as move ahead with opportunities in their pipeline,” said Peter MacAskill, vice-president, NSBI.
The company has worked hard at attracting executives with experience at large corporations in the Silicon Valley.
Last year, it hired two Silicon Valley veterans to fill senior management roles: Kazemipour as chief executive officer and Guillaume Oget as chief technology officer. Oget later left the company but Kazemipour is still CEO.
Then it hired Salesforce.com veteran Wade McCallum to lead the company’s sales team. McCallum had been Salesforce’s vice-president of enterprise sales and had held a senior sales position with Fredericton-based Radian6, which San Francisco-based Salesforce bought for $326 million in 2011.
“We’re focused on growing our customer base in the United States, but we're also gaining traction in places like New Zealand and India,” said Hickey.
“Productivity is a worldwide issue. This is an exciting time for the company.”