A simple form can be worth more than you think.
Reston software startup GoCanvas, which makes mobile-friendly web forms for businesses, was acquired by private equity firm K1 Investment Management for more than $100 million, the Washington Business Journal reports.
The deal gives the Los Angeles-based group majority ownership and leaves in some investors, including founder and CEO James Quigley and founding investor and former NFL star Kurt Warner, according to the WBJ. It closed at the end of 2018.
Quigley plans to grow from 165 employees to more than 300 following the investment, mostly at the company’s Reston Town Center headquarters. It has 22 open positions on its website, and plans to bulk up its sales and marketing teams.
GoCanvas brought in more than $20 million in revenue last year but hopes to build toward the $100 million annual revenue milestone.
“This partnership probably makes this possible a year and a half faster,” Quigley told the WBJ. “The intent is that these guys like building unicorns with no one left behind.”
GoCanvas was founded in 2008 as Canvas before changing its name in 2017, when it also made the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list of fast-growing technology companies. The company had raised about $21 million in funding since its founding, according to a Crunchbase tally, from investors including D.C.-based Camber Creek and Osage Venture Partners.
Last February, Ben Foster joined the company as chief product officer following a tenure at eBay in the early 2000s and executive positions at D.C.’s Opower. Since 2014, he has been an adviser to more than 40 tech companies including FiscalNote, Contactually and Stardog Union.
GoCanvas joins a short list of D.C.-area companies that have recently sold for upwards of $100 million from private equity firms: Social Tables was acquired by Cvent in October and Interfolio sold majority ownership at the end of 2018.
