Over the past six months, multiple tech companies in the Charleston region have together raised just under $100 million in capital to fund their growth and expansion. The companies include QuicksortRx, whose software helps hospitals save millions on pharmacy procurements; Gigpro, a hospitality focused staffing app; Scout, who is developing a toolkit for building scalable artificial intelligence (AI); Churnkey, a company offering customer retention solutions; Case Status, with leading mobile client engagement software for law firms; and Gnosis, a supply chain platform focused on shipping containers.
This is certainly not to say that raising capital has suddenly, magically become easy. As an example, Case Status, which recently closed a $19.7 million Series B round, had CEO Andy Seavers describing the process as “super lengthy and brutal.” However, this collective fundraising success is a significant achievement for Charleston's tech sector, considering today’s challenging capital environment. It serves as a barometer of the region’s progress in product innovation, leadership, talent development, and job growth.
Generally, the companies expect to use the fresh capital for three purposes - further penetrate their respective markets, invest in product engineering and innovation, and building out their team. In terms of growing their respective teams, headcount growth estimates range from 25% to 200%. Regarding product innovation and engineering, companies expect to embed AI into their products.
Charleston is increasingly on the radar for many venture capital and private equity companies. While many investors hail from the Southeast, including Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida, recent funding has also come from across the U.S., with contributions from New York, Connecticut, California, Colorado, and Chicago. Beyond capital, several entrepreneurs place a high value on the introductions and business resources their investors bring to their company.
“In the final analysis, Charleston’s small to medium size tech businesses (SMB) are performing well in terms of capital investment alongside tech giant, Google, that recently announced the $3.3 billion expansion of their data center and the development of two new facilities,” said Charleston Digital Director, Ernest Andrade.
