Miami-based IT software provider Kaseya is on a global roll
By Doreen Hemlock
Software company Kaseya made headlines in February with a commitment to add 3,400 jobs in Miami over the next three years in the largest expansion project ever backed by Miami-Dade County’s economic development group, the Beacon Council.
But that’s just part of the growth plans for the Miami-based venture that also has offices in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, plus back-office operations in India.
Worldwide, Kaseya now employs nearly 5,000 people, including more than 1,500 outside the United States. As it roughly doubles U.S. jobs, it also aims to double staff in the markets where it already sells its software. Plans call for adding 1,000 jobs over the next two years at Kaseya’s technical center of excellence in Dundalk, Ireland, for example, and another 150 more in Sydney, Australia to tap fast rising demand for its software there.
“Kaseya has so much more to do in our existing footprint. We’re just scratching the surface,” says Chief Operating Officer Joe Smolarski, noting that the company has no plans yet for offices in Latin America, Asia, or other world regions. Key to Kaseya’s decisions on where to expand: places that are business-friendly, have universities to help train future staff, and have people who “align with Kaseya values,” as expressed in the company tagline: “Entitled to Nothing. Opportunity for Everything.” “We want individuals who want to work, to be accountable and to achieve,” says the long-time IT executive, adding that in places like Silicon Valley, many employees nowadays feel entitled and even expect masseuses on the job. Kaseya opted to double down on South Florida because “you have a lot of first and second-generation Americans and individuals looking for a better path forward for themselves and their families… And we have a big belief in ‘Grow Your Own,’ which means we hire individuals early in their career and allow them to develop,” says Smolarski. In Miami, hundreds of employees who started at entry-level have risen to senior management, buying homes and accumulating wealth at a young age because “they’re willing to work for it and be adaptable,” he says.
HELPING SMALL AND MID-SIZED BUSINESSES MANAGE IT REMOTELY
Kaseya launched in Silicon Valley in the early 2000s, moved a bit, opened in Miami in 2015, and made the city its global headquarters in 2018. The venture began by making software for information technology (IT) professionals to manage operations remotely. Back then, most IT pros worked in-house for big corporations, so the idea of remote IT management, says Smolarski, “was way, way ahead of its time.”
Today, Kaseya serves more than 48,000 customers worldwide, taking in more than $1 billion in annual recurring revenue. About 60 percent of its customers are small, independent IT management businesses – often a few colleagues who used to work in-house for a big corporation, started their own firm, and now provide services to doctors’ offices, law firms, or other small businesses that have no in-house IT departments. The remaining 40 percent of customers are the in-house IT professionals of mid-sized organizations who lack the full suite of software that Kaseya now offers: data back-up, cybersecurity, compliance, process automation, and more.
The company offers its more than 40 types of software integrated into one end-to-end platform, allowing customers to work with a single vendor instead of lots of separate vendors for each software service, and usually saving cash in the process. Operations are highly profitable, offering plenty of income to fund growth worldwide, says Smolarski. Kaseya estimates its profit margin at 30 percent-plus. And that hefty cash flow comes on top of strong financial backing from two heavyweight tech investors, Insight Partners of New York and TPG of Texas.
Last year, those two funders led a consortium to help Kaseya acquire Connecticut-based software maker Datto in an all-cash transaction for $6.2 billion. Insight Partners’ Michael Triplett called Kaseya “an industry-defining IT and security-infrastructure management company.” Also helping funding that deal: Temasek of Singapore and Sixth Street of San Francisco.
MIAMI EXPANSION AIDED BY COUNTY, STATE INCENTIVES
In Miami, Kaseya is expanding with help from government incentives. Miami-Dade is offering a subsidy of $4.56 million, to be paid after Kaseya increases local staff to more than 4,000 in three years. Its 3,400 new jobs are slated to pay annual salaries averaging $107,000. Kaseya has also committed $16 million for office improvements and capital projects, creating more than 1,500 indirect jobs, says the proposal supported by the Beacon Council, the county’s public-private development group. The Council has been helping Kaseya since it set down roots in Miami.
“With tech layoffs recently impacting thousands of people and their organizations across the U.S., our longstanding partnership with Kaseya to bolster job creation has never been more important,” said Beacon Council CEO Rodrick T. Miller in a statement.
The state is also offering up to $6.8 million to help train Kaseya’s new hires in Miami. “Florida’s Quick Response Training grant program, administered by CareerSource Florida, increases the competitiveness of Florida businesses in the global economy,” says CareerSource Florida CEO Adrienne Johnston.
Kaseya’s growth should boost Miami area schools as well. The company has teamed up with Florida International University, Miami-Dade College, and other local universities and technical schools to develop IT talent. Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola has specifically praised FIU for listening to the needs of companies and accepting their input, saying, “FIU looks at the real world.”
To achieve similar growth abroad, Smolarski says Kaseya has learned some lessons the hard way. It now strives to establish Kaseya culture “from the first second,” often sending in veteran company leaders to build a new market. “It’s too big of a gamble” with completely new leaders, he says.
Kaseya – whose name in the Sioux language means “to serve and to protect” – also researches new locations deeply. It relies not only on written reports but sends executives to visit and talk with people there about business conditions and practices. Smolarski’s advice for others looking to go global: “Truly vet what you are walking into. “That’s Kaseya’s plan now, as it expands abroad in cities as diverse as Dublin, Copenhagen, London, Amsterdam, and Auckland.
