Local Business Receives Major Investment
This article by Ben Sheroan was reprinted with permission from The News Enterprise July 19, 2018
The rapid growth of Venminder continues with a $5 million investment announced Wednesday.
The Elizabethtown-based company, which provides risk management services for banks and other financial institutions, completed its second round of financing in order to support its continued development.
Mike Bowers, company chairman, said the business began with eight people less than four years ago. It quickly grew to 40 and currently has about 100 employees with more jobs to be created.
Over the past two years, Venminder has tripled its revenue and expanded its solution set to serve the broader financial services industry, which includes banks, credit unions, brokerage and securities firms, non-bank lenders and payments companies.
Earlier this year, Venminder celebrated the addition of its 500th customer,
Venminder’s new financing includes continued support from existing investors such as Bain Capital Ventures. Mission OG of Philadelphia, which provides support for entrepreneurs, was the lead investor in this Series B funding cycle, according to a Venminder news release.
“With this investment from MissionOG and Bain Capital Ventures, we have an experienced group of investors that can provide not only capital, but deep industry knowledge and networks to help facilitate our continued growth,” said Dana Bowers, founder and CEO of Venminder, which has its national headquarters at 400 Ring Road, Suite 131, in Elizabethtown.
Venminder’s software platform guided users through processes such as contract management, risk assessments, due diligence requirements, questionnaires and task management. It also provides outsourced due diligence services which address collecting documents and assessing them for risk in cybersecurity, information security, business continuity, disaster recovery and financial health.
An increase in regulatory requirements on the banking industry following adoption of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010 helped create a market for services such as Venminder. Its clients rely upon Venminder products and staff knowledge not available to most individual financial institutions, regardless of size, Mike Bowers said.
The company’s newest investors agree.
“Recognizing the increased compliance challenges that financial services and technology companies face with third party risk management, we evaluated the leading solutions in this market,” George Krautzel, managing partner of MissionOG, said in a prepared statement. “Venminder’s software and technology-driven services solution solves specific pain points for any company that is either highly regulated or has significant customer facing risk. We are excited to support the best-in-class solution in this rapidly growing market.”
Bowers also established iPay Technologies in 2001, an independent bill pay provider. Venminder was created after iPay was sold in 2010 to Jack Henry.
The financing agreement announced Wednesday has no impact on Venminder’s ownership or management, Mike Bowers said.
Ben Sheroan can be reached at 270-505-1764 or bsheroan@thenewsenterprise.com
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/news/business/local-business-receives-major-investment/article_0671252e-bcd2-51ff-8191-dc6053acca9e.html