Ann Arbor-based supply-chain firm LLamasoft, one of the fastest-growing tech companies in North America, announced Tuesday it closed a $50 million round of funding with Goldman, Sachs & Co.
The company will use the money to continue an aggressive hiring push and development of its products.
"Every year that you grow, it takes a little bit more to sustain that growth," said Toby Brzoznowski, executive vice president and co-founder of LLamasoft.
That shouldn't be an issue going forward.
LLamasoft will use the fund to continue what has been an aggressive hiring push for the company over the last few years. Last year, the company added 75 employees and expects to add at least that many thanks to the new funds, according to Brzoznowski.
"What you'll see is continued rapid hiring," Brzoznowski said.
LLamasoft has been ranked as the fastest-growing supply chain software company in the Deloitte Fast 500 list of North American technology companies in each of the last three years. Its rank on the list puts it in the company of well-known companies such as Yelp and Zillow, Brzoznowski said.
LLamasoft creates software for companies to help streamline their supply chain while finding ways to reduce costs and improve function.
The company employs about 270 people worldwide with roughly 200 working out of LLamasoft's downtown Ann Arbor offices at 201 S. Main. The company occupies about 24,000 square feet over five floors in the building known as the First National Bank Building.
The growth of the company over the last five years has been significant as the company grew from 40 employees in 2010 to 150 in 2012.
Along with adding employees to the company, the money will be put towards developing new products and features for customers that have been suggested to the company over the last few years. The company will also add more marketing and sales staff.
"In order to do that at any kind of scale and pace, we have to bring on additional resources," Brzoznowski said.
Last year, LLamasoft expanded operations to Japan while continuing to operate offices in the United Kingdom, France, Colombia, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and China.
As the company continues to grow, so has interest from outside investors. Brzoznowski said LLamasoft routinely fields offers from private equity and venture capital firms, but felt working with Goldman Sachs was an ideal partnership because of the shared vision of the future of the company and the availability of funds.
"We kind of made a decision that we want to work with people that we like. We're in this together," Brzoznowski said. "In Goldman's case they were able to tick off both boxes."
"We have been impressed by the number and scale of global organizations that have successfully deployed LLamasoft to date, particularly given the very limited use of outside capital," said Jason Kreuziger, Vice President in the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs in a press release. "We are excited to partner with Don, Toby and the entire team as we work together to leverage this investment to further serve and expand this group of customers."
Matt Durr is a business reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Email him at mattdurr@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.