Insight breaks records with Campaign Monitor

According to research firm Markets&Markets, Asia Pacific's SaaS industry is expected to grow to $4.32 billion by 2015, up from just $390 million six years ago. Australia accounts for much of this; the same report shows that alongside New Zealand and Singapore, it currently makes up more than one third of the Asian SaaS market. 

Firms like Campaign Monitor (CM) - which recently received $250 million from US firm Insight Venture Partners - have been the vanguard of this development. 

Formed in 2004 by two friends from university, it is the classic start-up story. Founders Ben Richardson and Dave Greiner originally developed the firm's flagship software as way for its users to run email marketing campaigns with ease and little technical know-how. Their SaaS solution proved popular and lucrative. 

Deven Parekh, a managing director with Insight, explains that the business is unique in that this sizeable investment round represents CM's first. "We had been in talks with CM for five years and the company was profitable for that entire period," he explains. "Then last year they decided to raise capital and bring in a partner to help take the business to the next level."

CM has spent the last10 years turning a comparatively simple marketing tool into a service that now works across several social networks, allows online marketers to produce content for range of mobile devices, and provides users with detailed analytics. Its headcount and footprint has also swelled. Today, the business has 65 employees across 19 cities and claims more than 100,000 paying customers in 170 countries.

"CM was able to build a global highly profitable business with no sales or marketing because they built a fantastic product," says Parekh. "We think with prudent investment and scaling of the team, there is a fantastic opportunity to build an even larger business."

In addition to bringing in new talent, the company will open its first US office. This will address the mismatch that means two thirds of CM's staff is in Australia but 80% of its customers are in Europe and North America. New products are also planned, including a new email designer and a tool for automating online campaigns. In addition, it will also selectively look at to make acquisitions overseas.

The company is one of two in Australia currently backed by Insight, but it represents familiar territory for the firm, which has backed more than 200 business covering e-commerce, the internet and data-services. There SaaS portfolio is now around 20-strong.

"We have invested in many SaaS businesses over the last 12 months," says Parekh. "And we see many more opportunities in the area."

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