Columbus startup Aware has raised $60 million led by the Goldman Sachs Asset Management, the first investment in the state by the firm's Growth Equity arm.
The Series C announced Wednesday comes 10 months after a $12 million round. Returning investors include Spring Mountain Capital, Blue Heron Capital, Allos Ventures, Ohio Innovation Fund, JobsOhio, Rev1 Ventures, Draper Triangle Ventures and JumpStart.
The sentiment analysis and cybersecurity software for workplace collaboration platforms is hiring in sales, finance, engineering and data science. The fundraising helps push already rapid expansion among client employers including giants including AIG and AstraZeneca.
"Aware's continued adoption as essential tech further shows how AI solutions are key to building more transformational businesses," co-founder and CEO Jeff Schumann said in a news release. He was not immediately available for comment.
The round was first reported in a regulatory filing in late September before it closed.
Demand had soared amid the past year's work-from-home shift and rapid adoption of digital collaboration software such as Slack, Facebook Workplace and Microsoft Teams. Aware's software analyzes those amorphous waves of communication – down to emojis and GIFs – to detect security risks and analyze employee productivity and sentiment in real-time.
"The shift toward collaboration software was a growing, emerging market (pre-pandemic) that a lot of people would like to have," said Bill Baumel, managing director of Columbus-based Ohio Innovation Fund. "Overnight, it went to a must-have and must-happen-now.
"(Schumann) navigated that brilliantly."
That market is not shrinking as more employers return to office or go hybrid, Baumel said, because they continue to use the platforms for in-person work as well.
"It’s a highly productive and interactive way to work together," he said in an interview. The Columbus firm led Aware's Series A four years ago.
Aware fits Goldman's thesis of "the transformative power of technology," David Campbell, the firm's Growth Equity managing director, said in the release.
"(We) see potential in Aware's ability to connect fragmented data that exists within organizations across many sectors," Campbell said. "The Aware team addresses information management, data protection and organizational insights at scale through their feature-rich platform that can satisfy the most demanding global enterprises, yet is simple enough to serve the mid-market."
Aware has 60 employees, using its Brewery District office more for collaboration space these days.
Aware, the DBA of Nullable Inc., has more than doubled annual revenue each year since it was founded in 2017, although figures are not disclosed. The company had been tracking at the end of 2020 for a second consecutive year of 150% growth.
