SYDNEY: Australia-based software provider Deputy has raised $25 million — capital it will primarily invest in expanding its Atlanta-based Americas headquarters. Deputy, which raised its Series A financing from Boston-based OpenView, employs about 20 in Atlanta — its sales, marketing and customer service hub. The workforce management software maker employs about 100 companywide. Deputy expects to add about 40 jobs at its Alpharetta office over the next 12 months, said Jason Walker, president of the Americas business.
The subscription-based software helps businesses with employee time-tracking, scheduling and communication. The software is mobile-focused, geared for use on smartphones, tablets and smartwatches. “We help businesses optimize their most expensive asset (their people), to put them in position to drive top-line sales, or reduce cost,” Walker said. Deputy, which has about 28,000 customers, including Amazon, Qantas, Nike and NASA, is targeting the large and growing hourly employee market. There are 78 million hourly workers in the United States and that workforce is growing by about 1 million annually. “Shift workers comprise over half of the world’s labor force, yet the technology to serve these workers and their employers is unsuited for such a large and complicated task,” Deputy co-founder Steve Shelley noted. Eight-year-old Deputy opened its Atlanta office a year ago. The U.S. market accounts for about 45 percent of the company’s revenues, Walker said, declining to disclose financial details. Atlanta was a natural outpost in the United States, Walker said, citing the city’s globally connected airport, Fortune 500 cluster, and abundant digital marketing and sales talent. “We almost consider Atlanta like the Silicon Valley of the East,” Walker said.
