Structural, a St. Paul-based software firm that helps employers match personnel with tasks, will announce Tuesday that it has raised $2.5 million in equity capital from several investors, including Steve Case's "Rise of the Rest Seed Fund," High Alpha, Matchstick ventures and affluent individuals.
CEO Scott Burns, who nearly two years ago sold his GovDelivery digital-communications software firm, launched Structural with a partner and $2.5 million in equity and debt.
"This funding should support us through 2019," said Burns, 43, who co-founded and ran GovDelivery for 17 years.
"Structural uses people data to solve a fundamental problem of modern work: getting the right people working together at the right time in a world where those connections make the difference between winning and losing in the marketplace," Burns said. "[Structural uses] 'people data' to be more agile, connected, and more empowering of their people and teams."
In an interview Monday, Burns said the goal is to build Minnesota's biggest-ever software firm.
That's a tall order for a firm that, so far, has revenue approaching $1 million, about 20 paying customers and 15 employees in St. Paul and Indianapolis.
"The timing is right to build a company that can achieve a $1 billion enterprise value," Burns said. "We're not going for a specific niche or focus, but building a platform that can address a fundamental need across all businesses.
"We have the opportunity to unlock the potential of companies that when they bring their best skilled people at the right time. It plays into the sharing economy and new-talent economy perfectly. A highly talented individual seeks projects and opportunities that advances his or her career. Even people within their own companies are freelancers, in a way.''
Case, a co-founder of AOL, started "Rise of the Rest Seed Fund" to fund promising tech firms outside of traditional tech hotbeds.
Mary Grove, a Minneapolis-based partner at Rise of the Rest fund, said: "Structural's momentum is impressive as many companies are already seeing how people insight makes organizations stronger and more successful."
Burns, a Duluth native, started as a McKinsey & Co. consultant out of college. He founded GovDelivery in 2001.
The 250-employee firm was sold to Vista Equity Partners for $153 million and merged in late 2016 with Denver-based Granicus.
Neal St. Anthony • 612-673-7144
