Vendasta, a cloud commerce platform for companies that provide digital solutions to small and medium businesses (SMBs), has raised $40 million in growth funding, $25 Million of which was led by the Canadian Business Growth Fund (CBGF) in addition to an earlier round in May of $15 Million led by Comporium, Inc and Saskworks Venture Fund Inc. with participation from existing investors Vanedge Capital LP and BDC Capital IT Venture Fund. With these investments, the technology company plans to expand its Saskatoon-based team from 285 people to 650 in the next three years.

It marks the single largest information and communication technology investment in the prairies since the Canadian Venture Capital Private Equity Association (CVCA) started collecting data in 2013.

The funds will be used to enhance the Vendasta Platform, including its owned and operated product suite and robust Marketplace of digital solutions. The company will accelerate its expansion into new customer channels such as banks, telcos, insurance companies and other enterprise organizations looking for a scalable technology solution to serve their SMB customers.

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“SMBs worldwide are purchasing and relying on cloud-based software more than ever before. It’s projected that SMB spend on software as a service (SaaS) solutions will represent a $76 billion market opportunity in the US alone by 2020. They’re turning to trusted local experts to provide that software, and we are uniquely positioned to empower those experts with our cloud commerce platform,” said Vendasta CEO Brendan King.

An SMB who wants to move portions of their business online has to choose from more than 71,000 SaaS solutions to manage marketing, productivity, protection, operations, connectivity, and other business needs. The SMB often turns to familiar local experts, like telcos, marketing agencies, banks, media companies, and more to help manage their digital needs. The Vendasta Platform helps the trusted experts bring everything together in a cohesive experience for the SMBs they serve.

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“At the end of the day, we’re passionate about driving local economies and helping small businesses succeed,” says King.

“The team is agile, smart, fun and they aren’t afraid of hard work. I’ve watched the company build, adapt, and over-deliver product and customer service, showing its true prairie roots of accountability. They have built a solid foundation, and they are just getting going,” said Amy Rae, Principal at Vanedge Capital.

“We are excited to partner with Brendan and his team, who are building a world class company and an excellent culture. In doing so, Vendasta is attracting talented technology professionals from around the world to Saskatoon as they grow and scale,” said George Rossolatos, CEO at CBGF.

According to the CVCA’s 2018 VC & PE Canadian Market Overview, $3.7 billion was invested in Canadian companies last year, of which eight deals in Saskatchewan made up $16 million of the total national investment (compared to $100 million in Alberta and $29 million in Manitoba). In the first quarter of 2019, $1 billion worth of investments were made in Canada, including three Saskatchewan deals totaling $19 million.

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