When we raised our last round of growth funding just over a year ago, I was anxious to see if we could achieve the goals we set for ourselves. Did I believe in our team? Absolutely. But we set our goals very high: doubling our customer base, team, and revenue without losing focus on our mission – to help green industry businesses win customers for life. Could we actually do it? 

I’m thrilled to share that we knocked it out of the park over the past year, and have brought on a new capital partner in Five Elms Capital to lead a $6M investment round that will accelerate the future of SingleOps. You can see our full press release at the end of this blog post, and the round was also featured in TechCrunch (read by over 20 million people every month) this morning.   

Our team (including Reggie) at our quarterly all hands meeting late last year

 

Why us and why now? 

Today’s consumer demands speed, communication, and high-quality service now more than ever before. In a world where almost anything can be delivered within a day (if not hours), our expectations for service businesses are increasing, too. In the green industry, we see that 80% of jobs go to whichever company sends the first proposal (more info in our 2020 Green Industry Economic Report). There’s simply no way to remain competitive using outdated processes involving pen and paper, or any type of double entry, even returning to the office to build a proposal and send it the next day. 

Green industry businesses must now operate in real-time to remain competitive. Here are a few examples of what I see leaders in the space doing:

• Estimators now employ mobile and cloud-based technologies to perform accurate estimates quickly, which are delivered to the customer faster than ever before
• Crews arrive on the job site with detailed digital work orders so they can deliver top-notch service on the ground (or in the air!) and avoid costly errors or accidents. 
• Administrative and operational teams as well as ownership understand profitability at a detailed level and in real-time. This actionable data allows them to shift resources around the schedule on the fly in response to weather and other external factors, maximizing revenue per crew and per man hour. 

SingleOps empowers our customers to operate with this level of speed and agility, and as a result they are winning more new business and are more profitable than their competitors. In fact, our mission is for green industry businesses to win customers for life with SingleOps. Does it get any better than that?

 

Our journey over the past year 

With our last funding round, our strategy was to “double down” on the green industry, where we had been able to create unique, extraordinary value for customers since founding the company.

The last year has been all about helping more customers, growing our team, and growing our business, all while maintaining a top-notch customer experience and continuing to be a great place to work.

I have to take a minute to brag here, because we are proud of the results. We have:

• Grown our customer base by well over 100%, adding hundreds of new customers across all green industry verticals (landscaping, tree care, lawn care, and landscape supply)
• Increased revenue by well over 100% while achieving average net revenue retention of 120%, meaning that customers find so much value in SingleOps that they want to use it even more in their organization after the initial implementation
• Maintained an “Excellent” rating on leading customer review site TrustPilot, with dozens of customers leaving 5 star reviews
• Watched customers of all sizes achieve unprecedented growth, with Swift Straw featured in the Inc 5000 for the 5th year in a row, Atlanta Arbor continuing to grow at 100% year over year, and newer customers like Goat Turf achieving $1M in annual sales less than a year after their founding  
• More than doubled the size of our team, while being named one of Atlanta’s Best Places to Work by Atlanta Business Chronicle

As a company we needed to prove over the past year that we could scale what we achieved early on. We have exceeded even our highest expectations.

Our booth was packed for 3 straight days at the 2019 GIE Expo

 

COVID-19: The curveball 

COVID-19 has created one of the most challenging environments for businesses to raise capital in years if not decades. We closed our round in spite of this due to our growth, history of customer success, and the strong conviction of our partners that we’d be able to continue our trajectory even in this environment.

I want to thank three groups of people for making this possible:

Our customers

While much of the green industry is fortunate to work outdoors and be considered essential services, of course COVID-19 has affected all of us. I have been so impressed with how resourceful our customers have been during this time, from installing portable sinks in trucks to allow for effective hand washing in the field, to offering new services like grocery and prescription delivery through their crews. 

We’ve heard hundreds of stories like these over the past six weeks, and our team has been truly inspired. To all of our customers – THANK YOU for your support. 

Our team

You haven’t blinked once as we’ve transitioned to 100% work-from-home, during the busiest part of the year, in the middle of a global pandemic. We’ve continued to meet or even exceed our lofty goals, and have set ourselves up to take the company to the next level going forward. 

The past year has been quite a journey, and I sincerely thank you for your hard work and dedication. 

Five Elms Capital

I really can’t say enough about the team at Five Elms. You could say our relationship has been “battle tested” already as a result of COVID-19. The experience has left me even more confident that we’ve brought on the right partner, and on behalf of our entire team, I can say we truly look forward to growing the business with you all on board. 

 

Looking forward

We have big plans going forward, and are hiring across all teams (singleops.com/careers) to accelerate our growth. Customers can expect innovative and exciting new features later this year, as we’re investing significantly in product development (have ideas or feedback? Let us know). We hope to see customers (and future customers) at events throughout the year; you can expect us at the ISA Annual Conference, GIE, TCI Expo, and the Lawn & Landscape Technology Conference, among others.

We’re proud to serve this incredible industry, and we’re here to stay. 

— PRESS RELEASE —

SingleOps Raises $6 Million to Grow Green Industry Software Business

Demand for SingleOps’ SaaS business management platform has increased over the past few months as outdoor services companies adjust to new market conditions 

Atlanta, Georgia (April 23rd, 2020) SingleOps, the leading all-in-one SaaS business management software for outdoor services companies, announces $6 million in new funding. Five Elms Capital led the round, and Ryan Mandl, Partner at Five Elms, joined the SingleOps Board of Directors. SingleOps has now raised $8.5 million overall.

SingleOps doubled its revenue, customer base, and staff in the past year. The company’s growth has been fueled by outdoor services companies such as landscapers, tree care, lawn care, and landscape supply companies that wanted to improve productivity by automating key processes. However, as COVID-19 began showing up in the States, many outdoor services companies shifted their focus from automating processes to deploying tools that would allow them to run their businesses remotely.

“Our customers are adjusting to changing market conditions by adopting tools like SingleOps that make it easier to perform front- and back-office tasks remotely,” said Sean McCormick, CEO at SingleOps. “Using SingleOps, companies can provide estimates, schedule work, manage crews, track labor and materials, and invoice and receive payments, all without meeting customers face-to-face. This has allowed them to continue operating, and even increase productivity.” 

Founded in 2013, SingleOps has grown to serve thousands of users across hundreds of customer accounts, including large companies such as Arbor Masters, Capital Land Management, and Quality Care, that collectively have used the SingleOps platform to process over $1.5 billion in revenue. SingleOps plans to use the new funding to expand its solution set, either organically or through acquisition, and grow its team. The company is still hiring across all key areas, from sales and marketing to product development and customer-facing operations.

“The overall perception is that the green industry has been relatively insulated from COVID-19,” said McCormick. “Many of these businesses are considered essential in terms of the services they provide, such as tree care, which can be vital from a safety perspective. And, depending on the state, city and county, even maintenance work has proceeded as usual. Our ability to support these companies by allowing them to access key data and perform business-critical tasks from anywhere while limiting in-person meetings has helped to keep our business going strong through these unprecedented times.”

“The green industry generates nearly $100 billion in annual revenue and yet, many companies in the space are still using email, spreadsheets, and pen and paper to manage projects, payments and invoicing,” says Mandl. “As they look for ways to be more efficient, competitive and profitable, updating their business systems is a logical solution. In a short time, SingleOps has established itself as the leading modern all-in-one business management platform for the outdoor services industry. Sean has put together a great team and product, and we are thrilled to lead this investment.”

 

About SingleOps

SingleOps is the leading all-in-one business management software for outdoor service industries, including tree care, lawn care, full-service landscaping, sod farms and landscape supply. The company serves thousands of users who have collectively processed over $1.5 billion in revenue through SingleOps, and use it daily to operate their businesses and interact with clients. SingleOps is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. For more information, please visit www.singleops.com.  

 

About Five Elms Capital

Five Elms Capital is a global growth equity firm that invests in fast-growing B2B software businesses that users love. Five Elms provides capital and resources to help companies accelerate growth and further cement their role as industry leaders. For more information, visit www.fiveelms.com.

 

 

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Media contact:

Kevin Wolf

TGPR

(650) 483-1552

kevin@tgprllc.com