YouEarnedIt Inc. has graduated from venture capital to private equity.
The Austin software maker announced Thursday it received an undisclosed investment from Vista Equity Partners.
While financial details weren't disclosed, Vista Equity regularly shells out tens of millions or even billions of dollars to take controlling stakes in companies. The private equity firm is partly based in Austin; Robert Smith, its billionaire chairman and CEO, lives here. It has more than $31 billion in capital commitments.
YouEarnedIt was founded in 2013 and has created a platform through which managers can reward employees and employees can reward each other with items from a day off to getting coffee with the boss to having a Nerf gun fight in the office — or even wearing pajamas to work. It has more than 400 customers, including Whole Foods Market Inc. and Bazaarvoice Inc. and Fortune 100 companies.
The new money came from Vista Equity's Endeavor Fund, a smaller fund designed to invest in companies with less than $30 million in annual revenue. YouEarnedIt appears to be the first Austin company to benefit from the new fund. The first investment from the fund was tracked almost a year ago.
Autumn Manning, co-founder and CEO of YouEarnedIt, said in a statement that the new cash will be used to hire and expand into new markets.
"To be working with Vista — one of the best software investors available — to grow our presence in the HR software market is great validation for what we have built at YouEarnedIt and where we can go from here," she said.
At the same time, YouEarnedIt has hired James Mann as chief financial officer and Michael Logan as executive vice president of sales. Mann was previously chief operating officer of Twyla Inc., an Austin company selling custom art online, and Logan was previously vice president of worldwide sales at Base CRM.
Previous investors Ridge Ventures and Silverton Partners retain some ownership in YouEarnedIt, although a partner at Austin-based Silverton said it cashed out some of its stake and now holds a smaller percentage of the company.
The latest funding comes just a year after YouEarnedIt raised a $6.5 million series A round led by Silverton and IDG Ventures USA of San Francisco.
Since that funding, YouEarnedIt has grown its headcount by nearly 50 percent, from 51 to 75, according to Austin Inno.
