SmartSuite, touted as a new breed of work management platform, has secured US$38 million in funding to accelerate expansion efforts.

The HR tech company offers a suite of solutions for project management, process automation and document collaboration combined to eliminate the need for disjointed point solutions.

Exponential growth and global adoption of SmartSuite

The company’s latest investment includes a $13 million Series A round led by Canapi Ventures, with contributions from Sorenson Capital and High Alpha.

This follows a $25 million founder-led seed investment, underscoring strong venture capital confidence in SmartSuite’s mission to streamline work management.

In 2024, SmartSuite witnessed a staggering 300% growth when it expanded its user base to over 50,000 professionals across 5,000 businesses in more than 100 countries.

The platform is already relied upon by major organisations, including Apple Bank, Credit One Bank, UCLA, Georgetown University, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and University of California Berkeley.

The fresh injection of capital is expected to fuel global expansion, go-to-market strategies, and product enhancements, and solidify the company’s position as the ultimate enterprise collaboration platform.

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Innovation in work management

SmartSuite was founded by husband and wife Jon and Tara Darbyshire and their peer Peter Novosel. They were the team behind Archer Technologies.

Archer was sold for $200 million to EMC, now Dell Technologies, in 2010 then became part of RSA. It was acquired by Cinven for over $2 billion in 2023.

After selling Archer, the Darbyshires saw first-hand how businesses wrestled with fragmented workflows, outdated tools, and spreadsheet overload.

Determined to provide a seamless solution, they spent nearly three years developing a no-code, all-in-one work management platform that aims to unify processes across teams and industries.

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SmartSuite was thus created to revolutionise work management.

Armed with deep industry experience and strong enterprise connections, the three tech entrepreneurs set out to tackle a new pain point: modernising work management.

The founders believe SmartSuite solves the chaos of disconnected tools by offering a unified work operating system that blends project management, process automation, document collaboration, and real-time team coordination.

SmartSuite is designed to serve as the central nervous system of an organisation – integrating databases, spreadsheets, documents, collaboration tools, and automation into a single, intuitive platform.

The company said organisations can use the platform effortlessly across various functions, including sales; HR; marketing; IT; finance; governance, risk, and compliance (GRC); and cybersecurity.

The firm’s ability to simplify complex processes has been a key selling point, according to Walker Forehand, president and general partner at Canapi Ventures, one of SmartSuite’s investors.

“We were drawn to SmartSuite’s ability to eliminate complexity from inherently complex processes,” Forehand said, referring to GRC for enterprises and financial institutions.

Growth through organic adoption

One remarkable aspect of SmartSuite’s growth is that it has scaled without a traditional marketing team.

“All the growth has been viral, mostly through YouTube video content created by our partners,” Jon Darbyshire said, as quoted by TechCrunch.

However, with fresh funding in hand, the company plans to invest in formal marketing efforts and strategic hiring to further accelerate growth.