Fintech firm Black Diamond Advisory, based in Golden, raised $25 million to hire up to 100 new employees and continue its global expansion, the company announced Monday.
Black Diamond's consultants work with Fortune 500 companies to help them modernize and implement OneStream Software, a performance management solution that supports businesses' budgeting, forecasting and financial reporting, among other things. Randy Werder and Carl Yost, the firm's chairman, founded Black Diamond in 2019 with a staff of eight, and they now employ 92 people worldwide.
Tercera, a Boston-based venture capital firm that specializes in the cloud professional services market, made the $25 million investment. With the capital infusion, Black Diamond plans to add 50 to 100 more employees who will help the company reach new areas of the world, Werder said.
"When we started in Denver, the vision was to expand globally," Werder told Colorado Inno. "So, step the domestic presence up in the U.S. and Canada, from there expand over to Europe and then eventually down to [Asia-Pacific], which is where we're at right now."
Black Diamond's clients span a range of industries and include Sharp Corporation, a Japanese electronics company; The Toro Company (NYSE: TTC), a Minnesota manufacturer of outdoor equipment; and the De Beers Group, an international diamond company.
Though Golden is listed as the firm's headquarters, its staff is working remotely and is located around the country and world. As of now, employees are located in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.
It's important for employees to be in other countries in order to bridge any cultural gaps, Werder said.
"Having people on the ground and understanding the customs and trends of that country is very valuable," Werder said. "Having a local presence is really key, too, from a support perspective."
While hiring, Werder is looking for very specific, "borderline niche" talent, he said. Most of Black Diamond's current employees are highly experienced consultants, he said. The firm will be looking for people with consulting ability and a technical aptitude for the software.
Werder and Yost founded Black Diamond after watching OneStream and recognizing its potential, Werder said.
"Some of my colleagues and I said, 'This is what we want to hitch our wagon to. We want to get involved in this,'" Werder said. "We realized this is the wave of the future, so we created a firm around that technology."
OneStream, based in Birmingham, Michigan, was listed earlier this month on Inc. Magazine's list of the 5,000 fastest-growing companies in the United States. The company reported $250 million in annual recurring revenue, a 60% year-over-year increase. It signed 100 customers in the second quarter of 2022, bringing it to 1,000 customers around the world.
Earlier this year, OneStream awarded Black Diamond its 2022 Partner Innovation Award and said the firm was its fastest-growing global partner. Black Diamond has worked on more than 100 OneStream projects so far.
"Black Diamond's in-depth knowledge of OneStream's Intelligent Finance platform combined with their mix of business, technical and industry expertise, has quickly made them one of our top partners," Craig Colby, president of OneStream, said in a statement.
Randy Werder's last name has been updated.
