Why we are in investing in Wrike

Today, Wrike announced a $10MM Series A funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures. We are thrilled to be partnering with Andrew Filev and Team Wrike! Here are just a few qof the reasons why we are excited to be on board.

Because Wrike is a great product

We could tell you that Wrike is a unique product because it adapts to your existing workflows, vs. requiring you to change how you get things done. Or that it sits across task management AND collaboration, vs. just doing one. Or my personal favorite – it works in your email.

But task management software is like ice-cream – everyone has their favorite flavor. So let’s just look at Wrike by the (engagement) numbers:

Being boot-strapped, Andrew and his team had to build a product that users love (and pay for). These usage metrics speak to something special. In the words of one customer:

Because the “work cloud” needs more connective tissue

Between Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, email, etc., businesses have an incredible amount of data and documents in the cloud. Managing workflows across those platforms is increasingly challenging. Doing so within the app that most knowledge workers live in – email – is even harder.

And the next generation of knowledge workers will be even more cloud centric.

We think Wrike, with its flexible workflows and Drive / Dropbox / Email integrations, can be the connective tissue across those cloud apps.

Because “land-and-expand” is already working

As noted earlier, Wrike customers more than double their number of seats within the 1st year of using the product. That only happens if you have a great product and happy customers.

BCV has a long history of backing companies with “land-and-expand” DNA, including SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI), LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD), SurveyMonkey, Rapid7, Optimizely and many more. When we see those fingerprints in a company, we know it can be special.

Because it all starts with the people

Andrew and his team have delivered a category-leading product, happy customers and huge growth with no outside capital. And they have built a great company culture with a real sense of mission around empowering their users.

Those are incredible achievements, but we get the feeling that Wrike is just getting started. We are excited to see what this crew does with a full tank of gas!