Today is an exciting day at Beegit HQ. We’re happy and humbled to announce the conclusion of a $220,000 funding round. Although the pieces have been in place for a few weeks, we can finally announce that we received the most recent Innovation Fund B award. That $100,000 pairs with winning the North Coast Opportunities Technology Fund and a February investment from LaunchHouse, a Cleveland-based accelerator. We started Beegit to solve pains our team had firsthand collaborating with others on web content. To get started, we bootstrapped our way to an initial product release, and we’ve been honored along the way by how many people are picking up what we’re putting down. In addition to the enthusiasm of our customers, we were able to raise a solid round from some amazing angel investors during 2014. Now, this $220,000 round is the gas we need to grow our team and our platform. Finding funding When we started a SaaS company in Cleveland, Ohio, we were told more than a few times that we were nuts. Cleveland is a great town for medical and manufacturing, but the developing tech scene doesn’t get much respect. The truth is, funding for SaaS companies across the Midwest is different than it is on the coasts. This truth is better explained on the well-written blog of local start-up enthusiast Mike Belsito, but at the basic level, investors here require more traction, a complete team and plenty of proof that you’re not alone in your vision. Getting this far was a process, but we’re thankful we’ve found local angels and funds who believe in us. They see the market opportunity we see, and they want to help us see it through. The funds we received are a direct result of the growing tech support structure in Cleveland. The strides made in this ecosystem show brightly when you see the big things being done by local software companies like DecisionDesk and ExpenseBot, both of which drew seed funding here and then attracted significant outside capital. Maybe it’s nuts to start a SaaS company in Cleveland, but we feel like we’re in good company. What’s next? I once had an adviser tell me that celebrating a funding event is like having everyone over for Thanksgiving right after you buy the turkey and potatoes. You might have the materials, but there’s still a lot of work to do. Indeed, there is much to do. This funding accelerates platform features that will make our customers happier. We’re lucky: our customers have always been willing to share their experience using Beegit with us, helping us identify our priorities. We’re already in the lab working on big features. We even released our new, heavily-requested document compile feature just a few days ahead of this announcement. It’s a cool day, but it’s just the beginning of our plans to grow Beegit. Want to talk about our platform or what comes next? We’re always happy to chat. Shoot the team an email at [email protected]. Painless content production and collaboration for teams Beegit is the online writing platform that removes barriers across your organization to create, edit and approve web content. Try It Free Request A Demo by Mike Cottrill Co-founder and CEO of Beegit. Content marketer and recovering journalist. All blog posts planned and made fresh in Cleveland, Ohio.