Targetprocess launched in 2004 in Minsk, Belarus with a mission of making it simpler to manage agile-driven programming projects. It announced it has taken its first funding in its 14-year history, a $5 million Series A led by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Zubr Capital, a private equity firm in Minsk.
Why take money after all these years? It’s a long journey from 2004 to now, but Andrey Mihailenko, co-founder of Targetprocess, says the time is simply right to take on more money to expand its market vision. “The goal of taking on this funding is to get bigger. We see the opportunity right now because more companies understand the value of agile to provide faster response to change agents and quicker delivery,” he said.
He said the founders often debated over the years when to take on external investment, but decided to wait until they felt it was the right time to expand. “We delayed because venture capital is not just about money, but giving up some control and having someone else influence some of the decisions. We wanted our vision fulfilled and now seems like a perfect time because agile is [moving beyond] IT into other parts of the organization,” Mihailenko explained.
Like many startups, this one was born out of necessity when one of Mihailenko’s co-founders became fascinated with the agile programming methodology. When he couldn’t find tools to adequately manage the process, he decided to build them, and from that early work Targetprocess was born.
Today, he says his company focuses on agile teams of all sizes as the agile concept has become popularized over time and mainstreamed as an accepted practice. “Our focus is on providing a platform to enable agile teams to visualize the workflow, how they work and making sure their priorities align and that they work in an agile way,” Mihailenko said.
Their persistence appears to have paid off. From the five co-founders, they have grown to 115 employees with over 1000 clients worldwide, according to Mihailenko.The development team remains in Minsk, but they have small offices in Buffalo, NY, London and Berlin.
They plan to use the money to push into new markets by hiring new sales and marketing professionals, who can help them expand and grow. They also intend to enhance the R&D team in Minsk and expect to reach 160 employees in the next 12-18 months.
