UPDATE: This Case Study was originally published in 2021. Since then, the Funding Catalyst team has continued to partner with Athennian to help them secure more than $4.4M in non-dilutive funding from various sources.

Overview

Athennian is a Calgary-based legal entity and corporate secretary management cloud platform company founded in 2016. They offer elegant data management and document automation for compliance, ownership, governance, eSign, Office365 and more for in-house legal teams and law firms around the world.After a few years of market validation and sales development, Athennian found product-market fit and began experiencing significant growth that attracted $10m+ in Venture Capital funding from investors suchas Thin Air Labs and Arthur Ventures.

Challenge

Athennian was familiar with many non-dilutive funding programs available to ventures at their stage of development, but their resources were focused on scaling up their business. The time required for the team to engage with funders and compile the necessary documents for funding applications was scarce, but they knew accessing non-dilutive capital would be valuable.

Solution

The Funding Catalyst Team worked with Athennian’s Senior Leadership team to explore eligibility for specific funding programs, engage with funding program coordinators to build a relationship with Athennian, and create the necessary content to apply for funding. After discussions with CFO/COO Josh Malate to understand their growth trajectory, we identified a funding program that would subsidize the hiring of a critical hire on their product team, and a program that provides scaling ventures with a 0%interest forgivable loan to extend their runway while they scaled, significantly increasing the valuation they 2 were able to raise their next round of funding on. We worked with Josh and other key team members to strategize and scope out projects well-positioned for each funding program, connect with the funding bodies to build and nurture a relationship, and submit multiple applications for funding.

Outcomes

The Funding Catalyst Team helped Athennian secure $1.75m in non-dilutive capital at a critical stage of their venture allowing them to accelerate their development and growth trajectory while attracting the talent they required to compete globally. After the success of our first sprint, Athennian has continued to contract Thin Air Labs to support them in unlocking additional non-dilutive capital. We are in the process of applying for an additional $500k in funding from various sources to continue to support Athennian’s growth and fuel the next stages of their growth.

“Working with the Funding Catalyst team will accelerate the work Athennian is doing in penetrating entity-rich geographic markets, primarily the US and the UK. There is a significant amount of upfront investment required to solidify a combination of commercial motions, customer value communication and local configuration for a new geographic market, the Funding Catalyst Team’s ability to match make us with the right funding opportunities at the right time and help us quickly execute multiple successful applications with limited time commitment from us was invaluable in supporting and accelerating the development of our venture.” - Josh Malate, former COO

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