Ekos, one of the leaders in business management software for independent craft beverage companies, has secured an $8 million Series A investment round. This Series A is the first outside investment into Ekos, which has been self-financed to date.
This funding round is being led by Noro-Moseley Partners, an Atlanta-based venture capital firm that invests in early growth information technology and healthcare businesses with rapidly scaling revenue, a capital-efficient model and a clear pathway to profitability. Alan Taetle, General Partner, and John Ale, Principal, from Noro-Moseley Partners will join the Ekos board of directors.
Ekos partners with more than 1,700 craft producers in 40 countries around the world – including beer, cider, wine, coffee, and food companies – to manage their day-to-day operations in inventory, production, sales, and accounting. Ekos currently serves more than 15% of the craft breweries in the U.S., including popular brands like Austin Beerworks, Breakside Brewery, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, and Wormtown Brewery.
Proceeds from this investment will be used to enhance product features and build integrations with best-in-class solutions for the craft food and beverage industry. The Ekos team also plans to hire at least 40 new team members by the end of 2020 to make these plans a reality. Ultimately, the Ekos solution will function as a “central hub” for craft food and beverage businesses.
“We’re truly excited about our Series A, because it means that Ekos will continue to evolve and become a company that will help all artisanal makers,” said Josh McKinney, Ekos CEO. “However, our first love is the craft beer market, and we remain steadfastly committed to those customers and continuing to help them be efficient and profitable.”
McKinney further explained, “This investment from Noro-Moseley Partners means that we can expand our capabilities and global footprint and bring even more effective solutions to both new and existing customers in the craft food and beverage space, as well as execute on our ultimate vision of creating a new ecosystem for the craft industry. We are enthusiastic about bringing a partner like Noro-Moseley on board, as well as being able to make some key hires to bring our vision to fruition.”
Ekos provides features tailored for each business model and functional role, harnessing the power of team effort while delivering a seamless end-to-end user experience. Designed to boost the performance of every person in a craft food and beverage organization, cloud-based Ekos business management software helps optimize key processes – from raw materials to manufacturing processes and finished goods inventory – so that user organizations know what to sell and when.
In addition, the comprehensive, integrated Ekos solution simultaneously generates relevant accounting and tax information that also helps ensure legal and regulatory compliance, a common headache for alcoholic beverage companies.
“While Ekos is already positioned as the leading technology platform for craft beverage companies, we share a much bigger vision with the company in terms of expanding more broadly into food and beverage,” commented Noro-Moseley Partners’ Taetle. “We look forward to partnering with the entire Ekos team to deliver innovation to customers that will help grow their businesses.”
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