In their first round of fundraising since 2012, Denver’s announced this week it raised a “significant investment” from private equity firm Bison Capital. While they declined to comment on the amount raised, Cartasite said in a press release the equity round would be used to expand their offerings and add to their team.
Founded in 2004, the company had some initial seed rounds, which were then consolidated in 2012 by an outside equity firm. Cartasite CTO Bill Sinclair said the company has been profitable since then.
Cartasite works primarily with the oil and gas industries in 36 countries, manufacturing solutions for issues like fleet tracking and asset management. The company was an early player in the Industrial IoT space, where all technology solutions are for commercial or industrial use. Sinclair said with this new round of fundraising, Cartasite plans to continue their work in that space as they expand their offerings.
The funding comes at an interesting time, as the oil and gas industry is in a period of turmoil. “They’re looking to us to solve different challenges than we’ve solved for them before,” Sinclair said. “Before, the focus was solely on safety and how safety could improve the security and reliability of their assets, and now it’s, ‘Wow, you’re helping us stay safe but now we need to save money, too.’”
The company also plans to expand to new verticals, like construction and insurance. “There’s almost nothing that we do today that’s specific to just the oil and gas industry,” said Sinclair. “That just happens to be where the experience of a lot of the executive team lies.”
Sinclair said they’ve found the other industries also have a strong demand for safety and asset security.
With new products and verticals to manage, Cartasite will also be adding to their team. Sinclair said they plan nearly to double in size by the end of the year, adding roughly 30 jobs in engineering, sales and marketing.
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