Pasadena Software-As-Service Startup Raises $4 Million

Pasadena-based business management software-as-service startup 17Hats has raised $4 million in Series A funding led by Wavemaker Partners and other prominent private investors, enabling it to continue plans to expand development, marketing and education.

Nine months ago, Wavemaker Partners gave $1.35 million leading the seed round.

“We’re very excited to once again lead this funding round for 17hats,” said Eric Manlunas, Managing Partner of Wavemaker Partners. “We thought it made total sense to further capitalize on the momentum the company has been experiencing.”

Manlunas added the new round of financing will further accelerate the company’s growth to become “the leading provider of business automation tools for the micro businesses.”

17Hats provides a cloud-based application specifically targeted towards solopreneurs – solo entrepreneurs – freelancers and microbusinesses to help them manage their business in one easy-to-use system. With the 17Hats app, solopreneurs can book clients, manage projects, control finances and automate the whole core business process from managing leads to sending out invoices and receiving payments.

Since launching in October 2014, 17Hats has grown to serve 10,000 paying customers – including photographers, developers, interior designers, business coaches, event planners, bookkeepers, consultants and other solopreneurs who work with outside clients.

As of September 2015, 17hats has facilitated more than $30 million worth of bookings.

“We discovered that solopreneurs are a huge, underserved community, so we built a software platform that addresses their pain points,” Donovan Janus, founder and CEO of 17hats, says of the app. “Clearly we struck a chord. The response from customers has been extremely overwhelming and their feedback has helped us improve the platform.”

Over the past year, 17hats has done several integrations that improve the user experience. One improvement now allows users to link their 17hats account to more than 20,000 different banks for more streamlined bookkeeping. Another allows photographers to manage their galleries, track client orders and sync their bookkeeping.

Other new features include foreign currency support, white-labeled client pages, embeddable lead capture forms, recurring payments and installment plans.

To learn more about the Pasadena-based startup, visit www.17hats.com.