The Denver-based public engagement software firm Balancing Act recently joined efforts with Polco Inc., a Madison-area government technology startup, to improve collaboration between citizens and their local governments.
The companies, which merged in January, announced the union last week. Balancing Act, its staff and services will continue operating with the same name but under the Polco umbrella, they said. The companies declined to share the terms of the deal.
Chris Adams founded Balancing Act in 2015 to provide simulation-based public engagement tools for budgeting, housing, climate, planning and other issues. It's used by more than 150 public and private entities around the world. Locally, the technology is used by Jefferson County and Aurora Public Schools.
Earlier this year, Denver's city government used Balancing Act's platform for its first participatory budgeting program, in which residents ranked their top neighborhood priorities to receive $2 million of capital funds.
“Our team is thrilled to join with Polco’s in this mission to provide governments with multiple methods of community involvement for increased transparency and trust,” Adams said. “Our public engagement tools help local governments establish effective communication with their constituents, no matter the conditions.”
Polco, based in Middleton, Wisconsin, developed software to help government agencies engage with their constituents. The technology has gained momentum in recent years as state and local governments have sought to demonstrate the impact of an influx of federal grant dollars.
While Polco was founded in 2015, the company's rate of growth has "certainly inflected since the pandemic," Polco CEO Nick Mastronardi said.
"I think (the pandemic) did accelerate how business is done," Mastronardi said. "It also increased the requests for transparency and accountability."
Major recent federal funding to local governments has come from programs including the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act.
The startup's software, which is used by more than 500 local governments, allows them to gauge constituent satisfaction through polls, surveys and data analytics.
Polco's merger with Balancing Act was years in the making. The companies had been connected since around 2015, and Mastronardi and Adams had a key "meeting-of-the-minds" conversation in 2019, Mastronardi said. Coming out of the pandemic, both companies were growing, and the time was right to join forces, Mastronardi said.
The combined company has nearly 80 employees, with more than 70 coming from Polco. Around a third of the employees are in Wisconsin, a third are in Colorado and a third work remotely, Mastronardi said.
As Polco continues to scale, it may raise Series B funding later this year, Mastronardi said. The startup raised $14 million in a round announced in October 2022.
"The market is so big and I think we're having such great momentum," Mastronardi said. "That would put us in a really strong spot."
