Sharpen #1 on Indiana Business Journal's List of Fastest-Growing Private Companies
INDIANAPOLIS, October 14, 2021 – Sharpen Technologies, developers of the agent-first omnichannel cloud contact center platform, came in at #1 on the Fast25, Indiana Business Journal’s (IBJ) annual ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in Central Indiana. The company has seen a revenue growth rate of 555% over the three-year period between 2018 and 2020.
“We’re honored to head this list of remarkable companies,” said Mike Simmons, Chairman of the Board and Sharpen’s largest investor. “We have a dedicated Indianapolis-based team coupled with a great group of investors–including Indianapolis’ own Elevate Ventures and Allos Ventures. That combination has fueled our growth and allowed us to succeed.”
Sharpen is the award-winning contact center platform that lets users work from anywhere.
Users can move between calls, texts, webchats, emails, social media, all in real-time and in a single interaction. With performance management built into its core functionality, at no extra cost, agents know what is expected of them. And, they have visibility into how they’re performing against those expectations. As a result, they can see how their work impacts the business and where to focus their attention in interactions. And they can do it all without having to leave their queue. It also lets managers easily coach agents and provide feedback, keeping their teams productive and aligned.
“Our growth, and this award, is a testament to the ingenuity and dedication of the Sharpen team,” said CEO Bill Gildea. “Our business model of partnering with our customers to help them deliver a superior customer experience in the most effective and efficient manner possible has been a win-win for all of us.”
Between 2018 and 2020, Sharpen increased subscription cloud bookings by more than 750%. It grew customer traffic volumes by 17.5x and also added 1625% new customers. And it expanded existing customer spending by 30% on average a year. The company also tripled the number of implementation partners, multiplied the number of sales partners by 10x, and secured $40 million in outside funding.
Along with grabbing the top spot on IBJ’s Fast25 list, Sharpen was named to the 2020 and 2021 Inc. 5000 lists of fastest-growing private companies in America.
Find more information about IBJ’s Fast25 here.
About Sharpen
Sharpen Technologies is the world’s first, truly agent-focused contact center platform built in the cloud for the cloud. The omnichannel platform lets users work from anywhere, seamlessly moving between calls, texts, webchats, emails, social media etc., all in real-time and in a single interaction. Frost & Sullivan recognized the company for its “dramatic ROI,” “out-of-the-box integrations,” “powerful reporting and analytics tools,” and “demonstrable value.” In 2020 and 2021, it made the Inc. 5000, the magazine’s annual list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, and came in #1 as the fastest-growing private company in central Indiana in Indiana Business Journal’s 2021 Fast25 ranking. And, it is a “Best Places to Work” by both Inc. (2019) and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce (2017, 2018, 2021). Visit Sharpen on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the Sharpen blog.
More about Indiana Business Journal and the Fast25
Methodology
Companies must have been founded prior to FY 2018 to qualify for the Fast25. They also had revenue of more than $1 million in 2018, and experienced revenue increases each year from FY 2018 through FY 2020. They had to be independent, privately held firms that are not subsidiaries or divisions of a parent company. Accuracy of entries was verified by letters from the companies’ outside accountants or through their tax returns.
About IBJ Media
IBJ Media was founded in 1980. The company owns the award-winning Indianapolis Business Journal, which publishes a weekly newspaper, daily news emails and two podcasts covering the central Indiana economy and business community. In addition, IBJ Media owns The Indiana Lawyer, an every-other-week newspaper covering Indiana’s legal community. Local entrepreneurs Mickey Maurer and Bob Schloss partnered to buy IBJ in 1990, bringing the news organization back to local ownership. Nate Feltman became a co-owner in 2017 and increased his ownership stake in 2020 when he became CEO. To learn more, go to www.IBJ.com.