Smartsheet gets $26M to keep enterprise workflow under control

Smartsheet pulled in $26 million in investment for its online collaboration software for businesses.

Traditionally, businesses have used spreadsheets to manage workflow, but spreadsheets quickly become unwieldy and inconvenient when they have too many contributors or topics at once. The emergence of cloud computing and software-as-a-service, as well as an increasingly distributed workforce, has created a thriving market for platforms like Smartsheet that streamline enterprise collaboration.

Smartsheet provides a suite of tools to help teams stay organized, as well as department-specific solutions (Sales, Marketing, Finance HR, IT, Operations). Employees and managers can use the software to assign tasks, share documents, and track progress. It can integrate with Box, Salesforce, Google Drive, and Amazon Web Services as well as mobile versions.

This investment came from Insight Venture Partners and Madrona Venture Group. It makes Smartsheet’s fourth round of funding. The three previous rounds were small by enterprise standards, totaling up to less than $5.5 million, and this $26 million is a significant show of faith in the company, as well as the market.

“Our own experience using Smartsheet, along with market dynamics, convinced us of Smartsheet’s tremendous growth potential and the opportunity it has to be a leading global provider of team-based collaboration products,” said Insight Venture Partners principal Ryan Hinkle in a statement. Hinkle will join the board of directors. Smartsheet is in Bellevue, Wash. Other startups in this space include Huddle, Siasto, and Swirrl.