Internet Marketing Software Firm WordStream Gets $6M in Series B Funding Led by New Investor Egan-Managed Capital

WordStream Will Use Funding for Continued Growth and Expansion of Company’s Search Marketing Tools for SEO and PPC; Sigma Partners Returns as an Investor; Company Adds Frank Andrasco to Board of Directors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WordStream, an Internet marketing software company, has secured $6 million in series B financing from Egan-Managed Capital, a new investor in the company that led the round, and was joined by existing investor Sigma + Partners. The company will use the funding for continued growth and expansion of its search marketing tools for search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. WordStream also appointed Frank Andrasco, a Partner at Egan-Managed Capital, to its board of directors.

“What I find most exciting about WordStream is how large the market opportunity is relative to most I’ve looked at in my 20 year career as an entrepreneur”

Since the company’s launch in early 2009, WordStream has grown from four founding employees to more than 35, and already more than 500 businesses worldwide rely on WordStream software to help power their PPC and SEO marketing efforts.

Andrasco, a Partner at Egan-Managed Capital and a new member of the WordStream Board of Directors, says, “I’ve followed WordStream closely since its initial funding 18 months ago and have been delighted with their pace of product innovation and the growth in their customer base. I’m looking forward to joining with Sigma and the WordStream management team to help build a company that can make the power of search marketing accessible to small and medium-sized businesses.”

Paul Flanagan, a Managing Director at Sigma Partners and a member of the WordStream Board of Directors, says, “We’re thrilled to have Egan join us in backing WordStream. We find SaaS business models a very attractive investment opportunity, and WordStream is a particularly compelling SaaS company because of the high degree of product innovation and the simple, powerful nature of their tools.”

CEO Rob Adler is no stranger to sales growth as rapid as WordStream’s. As co-founder of Boston-based CCBN, Adler oversaw that company’s growth from inception to nearly $80 million in subscription revenues in less than seven years, and is now applying a similar approach to carving out market share for WordStream in the search engine marketing space.

“What I find most exciting about WordStream is how large the market opportunity is relative to most I’ve looked at in my 20 year career as an entrepreneur,” Adler says. “With software that delivers real ROI results and millions of businesses worldwide looking for help, this is a huge opportunity for WordStream. With the financial backing from Egan and Sigma, we can ensure that we are well positioned to scale to meet this rapidly growing demand for our products.”

WordStream was recently selected by Google as an Editor’s Pick in their Application Gallery, as well as being named to the AlwaysOn Top 100 SaaS businesses. The company is headquartered in Boston, MA.

About WordStream

WordStream is a provider of SEO and PPC solutions for continuously optimizing and expanding search marketing efforts, involving large numbers of keywords. WordStream provides a scalable, private, online keyword workbench for conducting keyword discovery, keyword research, keyword grouping, keyword optimization, search marketing workflow and for turning research into action.

About Egan-Managed Capital

Egan-Managed Capital is a New England focused venture capital firm that provides funding for early-stage high-technology start-ups. Some of the region's most promising start-ups have been funded by the firm, including Currensee, OnePIN, OwnerIQ and uTest. Founded in 1997, the firm currently manages funds with $233 million in committed capital.

About Sigma Partners

Founded in 1984, Sigma Partners is a leading early-stage venture capital firm. Some of the market leading companies in which Sigma has invested include Atria, Cascade, Clarify, EqualLogic, Internet Security Systems, KLA-Tencor, m-Qube, Octel, Topio, VeriFone, Vermeer, Vignette and Virtusa.