StarLeaf, a cloud-based video conferencing firm, has managed to rake in $40 million from investors including Highland Europe and Grafton Capital.
With its headquarters in Watford, StarLeaf is the third company built by William MacDonald, chief technology officer; Mark Loney, chief executive officer; and Mark Richer, executive chairman. It was founded in 2008 by these three telecomms and video conference entrepreneurs.
StarLeaf first started selling cloud-based services to clients four years ago, claiming to have witnessed rapid growth within the enterprise segment. According to the firm, it has doubled its headcount in the past 18 months to 130 people, and has similar plans in the pipeline for the near future. Commenting on the funding, Loney, said:
Enterprises are shifting towards video as it is a much better means of communication than a voice call or conference. However, businesses often have a variety of legacy systems making it difficult to connect with customers and suppliers who may have different systems. Our cloud service solves these issues, while taking away the pain of running your own back-end systems.
The new funding will take the company through its investment phase, providing the working capital required to reach their potential in markets around the world. StarLeaf is, therefore, gunning to use the new inflow of funds to scale across the globe.
Laurence Garrett, partner at Highland Europe, who is slated to join StarLeaf as a non-executive director, spoke about his optimism towards investing in the company:
I have followed Mark Richer and the team for 12 years and have been a StarLeaf customer since 2013. StarLeaf has built its solution from the ground up, which gives it a real advantage in ease of use and quality. It offers real interoperability between different vendors which is unique in this market place and is delivering really high quality calls and a brilliant level of service.
Oliver Thomas, partner and co-founder at Grafton Capital, also planning to become a non-executive director of StarLeaf, added:
After many years pursuing the opportunity to work together, it is a privilege to be investing alongside these excellent people and world class technologists. StarLeaf is improving the quality of business communications around the world and we are proud to be supporting its expansion.
