Spiceworks

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Spiceworks
Private
Industry Computer software
Founded 2006
Headquarters Austin, Texas, United States
Products Spiceworks IT Desktop
Website www.spiceworks.com

Spiceworks is a professional network for the information technology (IT) industry that is headquartered in Austin, Texas.[1][2][3] The company was founded in January 2006 by Scott Abel, Jay Hallberg, Greg Kattawar, and Francis Sullivan to build IT management software.[2][4]

Spiceworks is an online community where users can collaborate and seek advice from one another and also engage in a marketplace to purchase IT-related services and products.[5] The network is estimated to be used by more than six million IT professionals and 3,000 technology vendors.[6]

The company's free proprietary software is written in Ruby on Rails,[7] and runs exclusively on Microsoft Windows.[8] The software discovers IP-addressable devices and includes help desk functionality and an integrated knowledge base.[9]

History

In 2005, Scott Abel, Jay Hallberg, Greg Kattawar and Francis Sullivan began discussing ways to build a social network for IT professionals where users could help one another solve common tech problems.[3] The four men were former executives at Motive, an Austin-based broadband and data management company that was acquired by Alcatel-Lucent in 2008.[10] They formed Spiceworks in January 2006.[4][11]

The company received $5 million in venture funding from Austin Ventures in June 2006.[12] The following month, Spiceworks publicly released a beta version of its platform.[12] The beta release followed a closed alpha test of the platform, which included 200 users.[4] The 1.0 version of Spiceworks was released in November 2006.[13] The focus of Spiceworks 1.0 was simplifying the process of taking inventory, monitoring networks, and generating reports for IT professionals at small and medium sized businesses.[4][12] By the end of its first year, Spiceworks had 120,000 users.[14]

Spiceworks received its second round of venture funding in August 2007.[15] The funding round was led by Shasta Ventures and included Austin Ventures.[15] The company released the 2.0 version of its software in December of that year.[16]

Spiceworks 3.0 was released in April 2008.[17] The company hosted its first conference for Spiceworks users in October 2008.[11] The conference, named SpiceWorld, was held at the Alamo Drafthouse.[18] The company released Spiceworks 4.0 in June 2009.[19]

The company completed its third funding round in January 2010. The round was led by Institutional Venture Partners and also included Shasta Ventures and Austin Ventures.[20] Later that year, Spiceworks 5.0 was released.[21] In April 2011, Spiceworks raised $25 million in a venture funding.[22] This funding round, the company's fourth, included investments from Adams Street Partners and Tenaya Capital.[22]

The first international SpiceWorld conference was held in London, England in May 2012.[23] Spiceworks 6.0 was released in July.[24] The company also opened its European headquarters in London, England in 2012.[25]

Spiceworks released version 7.0 of its software in September 2013.[26] In February 2014, the company announced a series E financing round worth $57 million led by Goldman Sachs.[5][25]

Spiceworks released version 1.0 of its free Network Monitor product in December 2014.[27]

Funding and business model

The company received $5 million in series A funding from Austin Ventures in June 2006.[12] Spiceworks' series B funding round was completed in August 2007 and included $8 million from Shasta Ventures and Austin Ventures.[15] The company's $18 million series C funding round was secured in January 2010 and was headed by Institutional Venture Partners.[20] In April 2011, Spiceworks closed $25 million in series D funding from Adams Street Partners and Tenaya Capital.[22] The company followed up with a 2014 series E financing round worth $57 million and led by Goldman Sachs.[5]

Spiceworks offers its professional network and software free to users.[1][11][28] The company generates most of its revenue through the sale of ads displayed on its network.[1] A small percentage of its revenue is generated through purchases of IT products and services that Spiceworks users make through the Spiceworks platform.[5] The Spiceworks platform also includes premium features, which are available for purchase.[5]

SpiceWorld

Spiceworks has hosted SpiceWorld, a conference for its users, every year since 2008.[11][18] The conference was originally held at the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater.[18] The conference later moved to the AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center at the University of Texas. SpiceWorld 2013 and 2014 were held at the Austin Convention Center.[18][29] The first SpiceWorld London took place in May 2012 in Vinopolis in London's Bankside.[23]

Awards and recognition

See also

References

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Cite error: Invalid <references> tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.

Use <references />, or <references group="..." />

External links

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Spiceworks&oldid=696240998"