Insite Software raises more venture capital

Insite Software says it's having success since moving to a software-as-a-service model distributed from the cloud.

April 21, 2018 at 7:55PM

Insite Software has received a $1.5 million follow-on investment to the $15 million it received in 2015, primarily from Volition Capital of Boston, as well as members of its management team.
Insite, with 70 employees and based in North Loop, said it has profitably grown customer-subscription revenue 300 percent over the last three years and doubled the number of new customers since last summer as it has moved to a cloud-based software-as-a-service model over its previous "on-premise software platform" that had to be updated periodically on customer servers.
Insite is down from about 100 employees several years ago, as the company exited the more labor-intensive installation-and-annual maintenance business if favor of the cloud-based approach.
Insite specializes in business-to-business software for manufacturers, distributors and others.
The funds will provide working capital and help expand engineering and marketing operations.
CEO Steve Shaffer said: "We're experiencing even more success as a result of the strategy to shift our focus from the traditional perpetual on-premise software platform to a Cloud SaaS subscription, making Insite's value, and best-in-class technology, more accessible for midsized companies."
Schaffer, CEO since 2016, has been a board member since 2013, when he invested about $1 million in Insite with fellow board member Ken Holec.
The two were principals in the former JOBS2Web software firm of Minnetonka that was acquired for $110 million in 2011 by German software giant SAP.
At Insite, Schaffer succeeded CEO Tony Abena, an acquaintance who also was on the Jobs2web board and who helped Insite raise the $15 million in 2015, before giving way to Schaffer in 2016, and returning to the venture capital business.

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about the writer

Neal St. Anthony

Columnist, reporter

Neal St. Anthony has been a Star Tribune business columnist/reporter since 1984. 

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