InnerWorkings Listed as Company to Watch in 2006
Posted by InnerWorkingsSunday Business Post
By Gavin Daly, Sunday Business Post
January 1, 2006
InnerWorkings scooped two awards late last year, winning the Irish Software Association’s new company of the year award and the David Manley award for ‘most inspiring emerging business’.
The company was founded in 2002, but kept a low profile until last year, when it raised $8.8 million in funding from Benchmark Capital and Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV) in the US.
It was the first investment in an Irish company by MDV, which is based in California.
The size of the investment in InnerWorkings and the calibre of the investors was considered a major endorsement of the firm.
The company was seed funded by its founders and Enterprise Ireland and has developed learning and analysis software which is used by software coders.
The company worked closely with Microsoft’s emerging business team on the development of the first version of its software.
It plans to release several products during 2006 and its revenues should increase significantly this year.
InnerWorkings’ management team is made up mainly of former senior executives at e-learning firms SmartForce and Skillsoft.
Fran McKeagney, the company’s chief executive, was executive vice president of research and development at SmartForce.
Bill Lewis, the chief operating officer of InnerWorkings, and Bobby Brady, its vice president of operations, held a range of senior positions at SmartForce.
Scott Blake, the company’s vice-president of North American sales, was head of global business development at Skillsoft.
The experience of the management team is understood to have been important in attracting the funding last year.
InnerWorkings now has about 50 staff, based between its research and development base in the IFSC in Dublin and a US headquarters in California.
Since the fund-raising, InnerWorkings has been spending on ongoing product development and sales and marketing, particularly in the United States.
