Milwaukee software consulting firm Penrod Inc. has raised $8 million from Salesforce Ventures and "a Milwaukee family office," according to a Thursday announcement.
The move is a departure for Penrod, which was founded in 2011 and hasn't previously raised equity capital, Penrod CEO Chris Widmayer said. Widmayer told Wisconsin Inno in 2019 that Penrod would take venture capital dollars only if it could lead to growth that Penrod couldn't sustain with its own revenue.
But with a goal this year to grow revenue by 50% to 60% from 2021 totals, Penrod spent the last year seeking capital before landing this deal, Widmayer said.
"To stay competitive, we needed to find the right partnerships to bring into the business and also to support the growth goals," Widmayer said. "We're changing toward more hyper-growth versus steady growth."
Penrod plans to use the capital to expand its technical capabilities, commercialize new solutions using its own intellectual property and grow its team, Widmayer said. The company has around 70 employees — around half of which are in the Milwaukee area — and plans to grow to around 100 by the end of the year, depending on business needs, Widmayer said.
"The war for talent is so difficult," said Widmayer, who was also recently named a winner of this year's Milwaukee Business Journal 40 Under 40 awards. "One of the things that we want to do is get ahead of hiring, as opposed to doing more just-in-time hiring, so that people don't get burnt out."
Penrod offers custom Salesforce implementation services to enable digital transformation for its roughly 60 health care, pharmaceutical, medical device and insurance clients. In a statement, the company's chief customer officer Saul Fofana said Penrod will work to help those customers meet their users' needs with innovative marketing tools that engage patients on their preferred channels and data platforms that help personalize treatment and care plans, among other things.
Based at 219 N. Milwaukee St. in Milwaukee, Penrod was named among the companies with the coolest offices in Milwaukee in 2018. It previously had other office locations but didn't renew those leases due to the pandemic, Widmayer said.
The investment arm of Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM), Salesforce Ventures has backed companies including DocuSign, SurveyMonkey and Zoom.
