Simpro Software opening U.S. headquarters in Broomfield that could bring 100 jobs

BOULDER — Australian firm Simpro Software, which has had a small executive office in Boulder for about a year, has raised a $30.54 million round of funding as it gets set to open an American headquarters in Broomfield that could employ up to 100 people within two to three years.

CEO Brad Couper said in a phone interview Monday afternoon that the company’s Broomfield office will be at 329 Interlocken Parkway in space formerly occupied by McKesson Health Solutions.

Simpro, founded in 2002 and based in Brisbane, makes an operational software suite for contractors such as electricians and plumbers that helps them manage a variety of tasks, including quoting projects, inventory control, scheduling technicians and billing from the field. The company already operates in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Couper said Simpro has hired a local director of marketing, and will be adding a president of U.S. operations to run the Broomfield facility. He said he expects hiring to ramp up in earnest by the end of this year or early next year.

While most of Simpro’s software development occurs in Australia, Couper said there will be some development operations in Colorado that will be focused on localizing the company’s software to U.S. businesses and for integrating with other products. Other functions in Broomfield will include sales, marketing, administration and customer support.

Couper said Simpro has had a couple of employees at an office in Boulder for the past year learning about the market in the United States and what sorts of tweaks might need to be made to the software here.

“It’s been a great place for us to get the U.S. operation started from,” Couper said.

Simpro will keep the Boulder office at 3100 Arapahoe Ave. as a place for executives to work when they visit from Australia, with Couper noting that, “We want to be there to help the local team, but we don’t want to be in their way when they’re making decisions.”

The latest Simpro funding round was led by New York-based growth-equity firm Level Equity. The money will be used primarily for growth capital in the United Kingdom and in building out the U.S. business.

“(The funding round) gives us some good credibility in the (U.S.) market when we’re out recruiting for talent,” Couper said.

Couper declined to disclose revenue for Simpro but said the company has about 170 full-,time employees worldwide counting contractors. He said the company initially looked at Los Angeles and San Francisco for the base of its U.S. operations due to the availability of direct flights from Australia. But he said a business mentor in Colorado ended up swaying Simpro’s executives inland.

“None of us actually liked either of those places, and we don’t need to be in the Valley anyway,” Couper said. “(Colorado) just felt like the right place to be.”