Aliso Viejo-based Telogis Inc. raised $93 million in a funding round led by Menlo Park-based investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Three other investors participated in the Series A, which is expected to be a “bridge” to an anticipated initial public offering in mid-2014, according to Telogis Chief Financial Officer Kyle Messman.
The recent round was the first infusion of institutional capital in the company’s 12-year history.
Telogis makes navigation software that uses global positioning systems to help companies with large fleets of trucks develop better routes and track shipments more efficiently. It has 400 employees, with about 60 in Orange County.
The Business Journal last year named it one of the fastest-growing private companies based in OC as it more than doubled its revenue to $57 million. It anticipates hitting $100 million this year.
Telogis has grown internally and through self-funded acquisitions.
Its recent deals include last year’s buys of fleet navigation companies Navtrak Inc. in Salisbury, Md., and Maptuit Corp. in Boston.
Messman said the funds will go toward additional hires in sales and marketing; product development; and building strategic plans with automakers.
Telogis earlier this year announced a partnership with the North America unit of Volvo Trucks. It has also been working with Ford Motor Co. since last year to embed its software in the Detroit automaker’s pickup trucks and vans.
Messman said partnering with investment-oriented firms that “have a track record” is important to Telogis as it explores options to go public. The timing also was right to raise money.
“Certainly, the good economic environment made it a lot easier,” he said, recalling that he joined the company in 2008, shortly after Chief Executive David Cozzens arrived in 2007—“not a good time to be raising money.”
Messman said Telogis had been in talks with Kleiner Perkins since 2009. Telogis also has been working with Morgan Stanley & Co. and PricewaterhouseCoopers for some time.
Kleiner Perkins, one of the largest venture capital firms in the U.S., has made early-stage investments in more than 500 ventures, including Google Inc., WebMD and Amazon.com.
Ryan Popple, a Kleiner Perkins partner, is joining the Telogis board as its 10th member.
“We’ve put a lot of thought into things like corporate governance—things that most private companies don’t think about,” Messman said. “We’ve had that philosophy to do things now while we’re private so that we’ll be ready to be public.”
