M-Files Corporation, a provider of solutions that leverage a unique new metadata-based approach to dramatically improve how businesses manage documents and other information, today announced a $36 million round of Series B funding led by Partech Ventures, with participation from Finnish Industry Investment and Draper Esprit.
M-Files continues to experience explosive worldwide growth resulting in a six-year compound growth rate of nearly 1,000 percent. The new investment will further accelerate existing sales and marketing activities, as well as expansion into new markets in North America, EMEA and APAC. The company will also focus on expanding and strengthening its global partner network, which currently consists of over 450 partners operating in more than 100 countries.
While other systems manage information according to antiquated folder structures, with M-Files, content is not tied to a specific location, but is intuitively classified and managed based on “what” it is versus “where” it’s stored. This approach also enables organizations to easily and directly integrate core business systems, such as CRM, ERP and HR, with documents and other unstructured content.
The M-Files approach relies on a unique metadata-driven architecture that enables users to quickly find and access information based on its relevance, regardless of the system or repository in which it is stored. This patent-pending technology also forms the foundation of a revolutionary new repository-agnostic solution that creates an “intelligent metadata layer” that overlays and unifies existing data repositories and core business systems, including Documentum, OpenText, SharePoint, Box, Salesforce, SAP and others. The new solution also employs state-of-the-art search, auto-classification and machine learning technologies that enable businesses to intelligently manage information based on its value, without migration or duplication, and without disturbing other core business processes and applications.
“We’re excited about working with the world-class team at Partech Ventures to accelerate our plans for sustained growth,” said Jim Geary, executive chairman of M-Files Corporation. “We’re succeeding by helping customers in a variety of industries with key business processes related to accounting, HR and quality management, with solutions that are simple, secure and scalable. This funding will enable us to build on that success, as well as further develop our world-class professional services organization, and expand local teams in the UK, continental Europe and APAC to better support our customers and partners.”
“Partech Ventures invested in M-Files not only because of their demonstrated track record of success, proven leadership and enormous market potential, but also because we saw a unique vision for a new generation of solution beyond traditional document management and enterprise content management (ECM) that has the potential to transform the market,” said Bruno Crémel, General Partner at Partech.
“Since our initial investment in 2013, M-Files has developed extremely well. However I believe that this is just the beginning of the story for M-Files. I am very pleased that the company has now sufficient resources for implementing their ambitious strategy. For us, a significant additional investment alongside a leading international VC fund fits neatly into place with our goal of being a trusted long-term partner for the best Finnish growth companies,” comments Finnish Industry Investment’s Director Juha Lehtola.
About Partech Ventures
Partech Ventures is an international investor specialized in high-growth digital and ICT companies with three types of fundings: seed capital (Partech Entrepreneur), venture capital (Partech International) and growth capital (Partech Growth). With offices in the Silicon Valley, Paris and Berlin, the Partech team has a strong experience in the international development of companies. Since its creation, Partech Ventures has achieved 21 IPOs and more than 50 sales worth more than $100 million to large global companies. Due to its track record, Partech Ventures has been identified by Preqin – the independent source of data and intelligence – as one of the top ten global venture capital funds, being the only European amongst the first 25. For more information, visit www.partechventures.com
About M-Files Corporation
M-Files enterprise information management (EIM) solutions eliminate information silos and provide quick and easy access to the right content from any core business system and device. M-Files achieves higher levels of user adoption resulting in faster ROI with a uniquely intuitive approach to EIM that is based on managing information by “what” it is versus “where” it’s stored. With flexible on-premises, cloud and hybrid deployment options, M-Files places the power of EIM in the hands of the business user and reduces demands on IT by enabling those closest to the business need to access and control content based on their requirements. Thousands of organizations in over 100 countries use the M-Files EIM system as a single platform for managing front office and back office business operations, which improves productivity and quality while ensuring compliance with industry regulations and standards, including companies such as SAS, OMV and NBC Universal. For more information, visit www.m-files.com
About Finnish Industry Investment
Finnish Industry Investment promotes Finnish business, employment and economic growth through venture capital and private equity investments and by networking internationally. We invest in the most promising companies in their growth and internationalisation phases. We offer growth companies financing, business expertise and extensive international networks. Our investment portfolio currently includes some 90 private equity and venture capital funds and around 70 companies in which we invest directly.
For more information, visit www.industryinvestment.com and @TesiFII