September 18th, 2007

OnForce raises $6.75 million venture round; Eyes expansion

Posted by Larry Dignan @ 2:17 am

Categories: E-commerce, General, IT Management, Web Technology

Tags: Expansion, Information Technology, Canada, OnForce, Larry Dignan

OnForce, an online marketplace for IT labor, has raised $6.75 million in a Series A1 round of venture financing. The round was led by Accel Partners.

The New York-based company said it plans to use the funds to expand internationally in Europe and Canada and into new markets and service categories. First up for expansion is Canada, according to OnForce CEO Peter Cannone. “This wasn’t about money as much as resources,” said Cannone, referring to Accel’s international expertise.

OnForce’s marketplace includes more than 10,000 professionals that provide on-site service for computers, printers, networks and electronics.

Accel, which is an investor in Facebook, is expected to help OnForce navigate international markets for IT labor. Harry Nelis, a general partner at Accel, will join the board of directors at OnForce. Judy Gibbons, former corporate vice president at Microsoft’s MSN division and a partner at Accel, will be an adviser to OnForce. Both Accel partners–based in London–are expected to help OnForce navigate an expansion into Europe.

Other takeaways:

• Accel approached OnForce in March and the deal closed over the summer.
• Cannone and Paul Nadjarian, senior vice president of marketing and product, said one tricky aspect of overseas expansion is building in taxation rules into the OnForce platform. This is no small issue considering that workers are managed and paid through OnForce. To expand into Canada, OnForce had to build into taxes by province as well as various forms of levies, said Nadjarian. OnForce’s Canada effort is expected to launch in November.
• OnForce plans to expand into new verticals beyond IT workers at some point, said Cannone. “There is a plan to move beyond IT services,” said Cannone. “Right now, we’re focused on being the best IT services marketplace. After that there are logical other markets we plan to move into over the next 18 to 24 months.”