Irvine software maker Logical Apps Inc. has raised $14 million in a first round of venture funding.
Logical Apps, which has about 100 workers, sells software that helps companies automate financial controls and compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting reform act of 2002.
Menlo Park-based Sequoia Capital and San Diego-based Mission Ventures provided the funding.
Chris Capdevila, cofounder and chief executive, said he plans to boost employment by 50% to 75% in the next year or so by adding field sales support people.
Some of the funding is set to go toward software development, according to Capdevila.
Logical Apps has about 75 workers in Irvine and around 25 across the country.
Up to now, Logical Apps has relied mostly on word-of-mouth marketing, Capdevila said.
He declined to disclose specifics on sales and profits but said revenue has doubled annually since Logical Apps got off the ground in 2000.
The company is profitable, he said.
“We could have taken on (venture) capital a long time age,” Capdevila said.
Logical Apps wanted to hold out for venture capital backers that would provide the company with expertise and mentoring, Capdevila said.
Lead investor Sequoia was a backer of Mountain View-based Google Inc., Sunnyvale-based Yahoo! Inc. and others.
“It just puts us with top-tier investors,” he said.
Another reason for waiting: Capdevila said he wanted to have just one funding round,to avoid the hassles of raising money in the future.
Early on, Capdevila used his own money to fund Logical Apps before it started generating cash.
A public offering and other options are open for Logical Apps, he said.
“We’ll look at it and analyze it,” Capdevila said. “We’ve got be focused on running the business.”
The company got started after Capdevila worked as a consultant at Price Waterhouse Management Consulting Services. He helped install large software systems, including from Oracle Corp., for companies such as Walt Disney Co.
When companies switched to Oracle, they got rid of older, custom software with its own set of internal controls to regulate who has access to sensitive data or how information is distributed.
Logical Apps was started to fill the gap, according to Capdevila. Its customers include Agilent Technologies Inc. and Motorola Inc.
The sweeping regulations under Sarbanes-Oxley helped boost the company after 2002 and continues to do so, according to Capdevila.
