Charlotte startup Ekos is exiting 2021 with a $21 million capital raise that it will use to nearly double its team in the new year.
Ekos, co-founded in 2014 by Josh McKinney and Greg Forehand, provides business management software to breweries, wineries, cideries and other independent makers. It helps them manage things like inventory, production, sales and accounting.
The startup's Series B round closed this month and was led by growth equity firm Catalyst Investors with participation from existing investor Noro-Moseley Partners. To date, Ekos has raised $29 million.
"The intent wasn’t even to raise now. We’d been having conversations with a few investor groups to keep them updated with progress," McKinney said. "The group at Catalyst made the case that they were the right ones to go with and the time to raise was now."
McKinney said they plan to add an additional 50 employees to the 81-person operation. A large portion of those hires will be product and technology developers who will help fuel the acceleration of existing product offerings, new products and additional integrations.
"If you look at what we’re building out now, for almost eight years, our main focus has been the producers," McKinney said. "Now what we’re doing is building out better functionality and tools to help those makers make better decisions and grow their businesses."
Ekos has customers in 40 countries and represents about 2,000 beer and cider brewers as well as seltzer and wine makers across the United States, including Charlotte staples like NoDa Brewing Co., Wooden Robot Brewery, Lenny Boy Brewing Co., Triple C Brewing Co., Red Clay Ciderworks and Catawba Brewing Co.
In September, the company launched Ekos Order Hub, a digital portal that lets bars, restaurants and distributors order from local brewers through an online system. McKinney said the platform helps streamline communication with suppliers, reduce order errors and provide more accurate order information and delivery dates.
"We recently talked about the Order Hub and getting that out into the world," he said. "I’d expect you’ll see more things like that moving forward, as well as the potential for some acquisitions coming down the pipe."
