Risk Management Startup Founders Scale New Company with $38M Funding

SmartSuite, a startup founded by the husband-wife duo Jon and Tara Darbyshire and Peter Novosel, is gaining traction in the risk management space with its new platform. The platform allows teams to collaborate on projects, build automations, and access work across diverse data libraries. SmartSuite has experienced significant growth, attracting 50,000 users from 5,000 businesses, including prominent institutions like Apple Bank, Credit One Bank, UCLA, and UC Berkeley.

The company recently secured $38 million in funding, with a Series A round led by Canapi Ventures, Sorenson Capital, and High Alpha. The founders initially invested $11 million pre-launch in 2022 and injected an additional $14 million later on. The trio's previous venture, Archer Technologies, was acquired by EMC (now Dell) for $200 million, providing them with valuable enterprise contacts and product insights.

SmartSuite aims to address the fragmented approach to using various work management tools, integrating project management, process management, and document management into a single platform. The startup has developed over 200 templates for common workflows and supports integrations with approximately 5,000 applications, including Slack, Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce.

The platform's ability to simplify complex processes, particularly within the financial services sector, has garnered attention from banks and enterprises. SmartSuite plans to use the new funding for recruitment, particularly in establishing a formal marketing team.