The growing number of emerging private growth software companies receiving new funding gives context to how much more room there is for the software industry to permeate the economy. In the 1980s, Microsoft began selling its software to the masses including small businesses and over time thousands of smaller software companies popped up, offering more niche solutions for all the unique needs a business could need. Today, the trend of software specialization continues, further shedding light on the fact that software is still in the early innings of its industrial lifecycle.
One example of software specialization is in the area of lease accounting. Recently, Visual Lease, located in Woodbridge, NJ received funding from Spectrum Equity. This is a company that enables large enterprises to more accurately track the myriad of equipment and other leases the enterprise is responsible for. Tracking is important for two primary reasons. First, it enables department heads to know when a lease is coming due and to prevent escalating lease costs upon maturity and secondly, it enables the accounting department to detect occurrences of non-compliance as lease accounting rules were recently changed and have gotten more complex.
Despite how random a lease software company might seem, Visual Lease is not the only company in the space. LeaseAccelerator, based out of Reston, VA does the same exact thing. Last year LeaseAccelerator raised capital from Insight Partners, a leading software focused venture capital firm. While Visual Lease has locked in clients across various verticals including wework, In-N-Out, Pitney Bowes, Cemex, Tupperware, and Paypal, LeaseAccelerator is a bit more targeted. LeaseAccelerator started out by focusing on corporate enterprises in the equipment and technology hardware space. Its clients include Waste Management, Eaton, fiserv, and Salesforce.
Visual Lease founder and CEO Marc Betesh comments on his company and the new partnership with Spectrum Equity, "Visual Lease embeds decades of deep lease management and financial accounting expertise in its software platform to support the financial, regulatory, legal, facilities and operational functions of its customers worldwide." He continues "The Visual Lease team is excited to partner with Spectrum Equity for the next phase of growth, and we value Spectrum's deep industry expertise in compliance technology and scaling B2B SaaS businesses."
Vic Parker, Managing Director of Spectrum Equity, will join the company’s board of directors. "The Visual Lease team built a comprehensive and intuitive solution to address an important accounting compliance challenge for a diverse set of companies and lease portfolios," said Vic. "Historically, leases were managed manually or in Excel, driving up costs, producing errors and making compliance with the new accounting standards very challenging. We are pleased to support Visual Lease's rapid growth and accelerated product development and to reinforce the company's customer-centric approach that has allowed it to onboard hundreds of customers successfully and in a timely manner."
