Atlanta marketing technology startup Terminus Software Inc. quietly raised millions of dollars less than a year after announcing layoffs, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company was around $1.5 million away from completing a $24 million round, which is substantially less than its previous $90 million round in March 2021. There were 28 investors that participated in the most recent round.
One man named in the filing was Greg Stewart, a name shared with the vice president of Boston-based venture firm Great Hill Partners, which led the company's previous round.
The raise comes after Terminus has changed its leadership. Sean Brady is the president and CEO as of March 2022, according to LinkedIn and the company website. Brady previously served as president of Emarsys, a customer relations platform that was acquired in 2021. Former CEO Tim Kopp, who had been in the position since 2015, is now executive chairman.
Terminus did not respond to request for comment.
Raising in a turbulent environment
The funding round comes seven months after the Atlanta startup confirmed it was laying off "a small percentage" of its staff a year after receiving attention as a potential unicorn. That move was part of a restructuring, a Terminus spokesperson told Atlanta Inno in May.
Terminus’ layoffs were some of the first in a series that struck Atlanta’s startup ecosystem. Changing market dynamics caused investors to prioritize profitability instead of growth. As a result, some companies started to restructure their business to cut costs, which oftentimes means layoffs. That change also affected other Atlanta tech companies: Digital experience startup FullStory Inc., tech stack management startup Sonar Software and financial technology company Cardlytics Inc., to name a few.
Technology companies across the nation have slashed headcounts in the last half of the year to cut costs. That includes giants in the industry such as Meta Platforms Inc., Intel Corp., Twitter Inc.
Startups don't usually raise less venture capital than previous rounds. Raising nearly a quarter of the amount previously raised could itself be a sign of a tumultuous economic environment.
Terminus investors could have also done an insider round for the company, when an existing investor adds to a previous financing round to increase its cash runway in exchange for higher equity. That option is growing in popularity as it has become more difficult raising outside capital. An insider round doesn't necessarily indicate whether a company is still growing or not.
Terminus' growth
Terminus was co-founded by serial entrepreneur David Cummings as part of the Atlanta Ventures studio program. The startup helps companies target clients through a platform for account-based marketing. It uses data to analyze engagement and results of marketing campaigns.
The company quickly became a trailblazer in Atlanta's tech scene.
Deloitte LLC recognized Terminus in the 2020 Tech Fast 500 list for 524% revenue growth over three years. In June 2021, the company opened an office in London to fuel a United Kingdom expansion. That same year, Atlanta Inno named Terminus one of its Blazer winners in the Fire Awards.
The latest financing brings its total funding to just under $140 million, according to previous SEC filings.
In recent years, the company made an array of acquisitions such as Atlanta account-based chat startup Ramble in 2020 and account-based analytics company Brightfunnel in 2018.
