A booster shot of venture capital will help
OnShift Software flex its marketing muscle in 2011.
The Cleveland company announced this month it recently had secured $2.3 million, both from its Ohio investors --
Early Stage Partners,
JumpStart Inc.,
North Coast Angel Fund, and
Glengary LLC, -- and
Draper Triangle Ventures, of Pittsburgh. Early Stage and Draper receive some of their investment dollars from the
Ohio Capital Fund.
The money will be used for hiring across the board, but mostly for sales and marketing positions, CEO Mark Woodka says.
Response to OnShift's innovative staff management system has been so positive the company is convinced it needs to quickly increase the number of its representatives. OnShift had 26 customers in 2009. It will end 2010 with more than 200.
Likewise, the company began with three employees; this year it has 24 and next year, Woodka says, it will double that amount.
OnShift's system, whose key benefit is prevention of overtime costs, has been deployed mostly at long-term care facilities, such as skilled/assisted living nursing homes and retirement centers. Hospitals are a large potential source of expansion.
It's a "very green field" of a market, Woodka says, and "the need for what we do is going up over time."
Woodka credits early support from Ohio groups such as JumpStart for OnShift's fast rise.
Source: Mark Woodka, OnShift
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs