Boise cloud software startup grabs big investment, now valued at more than $1 billion

Boise-based cloud software firm Tackle.io landed another big investment – this time valuing the company at well over a billion dollars.

Tackle makes a cloud software marketplace platform. It allows software makers to make their products available across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and other platforms.

The company said it added $100 million in additional funding in a C round, with investors including Coatue, Andreessen Horowitz, and Bessemer Venture Partners. The new cash values the company at $1.25 billion.

Last year, we told you about a previous investment of a much smaller amount – $7.25 million at an unannounced valuation. It later nabbed a $35 million funding round. To date, Tackle has taken in $148 million.

Fast growth

“This has been a tremendous year for Tackle, as we’ve tripled the size of our team and more than doubled our customer count,” Tackle CEO John Jahnke said. “Our customers today are primarily hypergrowth startups and we are excited to leverage this investment to broaden our platform in support of startups looking to build a marketplace-native go-to-market as well as enterprises that are retrofitting their product portfolios to align to the cloud buyer.”

Tackle says it will use the funds to deepen integration with platforms and software systems and help streamline workflows.

According to data compiled by Built in Idaho, the Tackle funding round is the largest private placement deal in the state for 2021 so far, slightly eclipsing a $98 million placement by toy company Lovevery. Only Clearwater Analytics saw a higher overall fundraising amount this year, via an IPO that brought in $540 million.

As we reported in 2020, Tackle’s roots are in Idaho – with employees around the country. Founder and CTO Dillon Woods said even the company’s name is rooted in the state.

“It gets back to our Idaho roots,” Woods said. “I’m one of the founders, and my partner Brian Denker is also from Idaho. We’ve always enjoyed that Idaho lifestyle. The name comes from fishing tackle. If you are fishing, you need tackle. If you are going to sell on the cloud, you need Tackle.”

The stages of startup funding

Tech and other business startups that look to raise capital often follow a number of funding rounds.  Sometimes, the process starts with “pre-seed funding,” which is enough money to get the business going. Seed funding is the first formal round and starts to formalize the business.

Some businesses never progress past seed funding.

Next, follows Series A, Series B and Series C.  A-round funding usually starts once a business has a bit of a track record and provides money to grow the business and develop out products or concepts. B-rounds help businesses start to grow to maturity, past that initial startup phase. Series C funding usually goes into businesses that are already a success, and helps the business grow and scale-up.