Software firm TinderBox lands $3M VC investment

Indianapolis software developer TinderBox Inc. plans to fuel product development and build up its sales and marketing teams after receiving $3 million in venture capital.

Allos Ventures, which has an office in Carmel, led the investment round, which also included funding from Hyde Park Venture Partners in Chicago and other, previous investors.

Entrepreneurs and investors Dustin Sapp, Kristian Andersen and Mike Fitzgerald started TinderBox in 2010. The company’s software manages sales proposals.

“What we found is that our product, frankly, is already being pulled into other areas of our clients’ business,” said Sapp, the company’s president.

The recent cash infusion will let TinderBox build on its software so clients can more easily use it for pitches, contracts and other stages of the sales process in addition to proposals.

The company, which has close to 50 people based at its home office on Monument Circle, also needs more marketing, sales and executive-level staff to keep up with growing business prospects.

“We’ll continue to invest at all layers of the team,” Sapp said.

In just over four years, TinderBox has staked a claim as a promising up-and-comer in Indianapolis’ technology sector.

The firm doesn’t release its financial information. It lists ExactTarget Inc. and Angie’s List Inc. among its largest clients.

The company received a total of $2.1 million in two previous rounds of venture capital.

It also reached an an economic development agreement with the state a year ago to receive $1.4 million in tax credits, plus $55,000 in training grants, as long as it hires more than 95 people by 2016.

Hiring is on track to push beyond that number, Sapp said.

“TinderBox’s continued growth is a testament to the company’s leadership and technology, as well as the opportunities in the space,” Don Aquilano, managing director of Allos Ventures, said in a prepared statement.