Polaris Partners and Blue Cloud Ventures
by Brian Haslam, Cityworks President & CEO
At the very end of 1995, I founded Azteca Systems—Cityworks and began articulating the concept and benefits of GIS-centric software for public asset management. Through good fortune, several ‘angel investors’ believed in me and Cityworks and were critical to Cityworks becoming the major system that it is today. Because of changes in life’s circumstances, several of my long-time investment partners have expressed a desire to diversify their investment portfolios. Respecting their wishes, I began a multi-year search to find new partners who believe in me, my staff, Cityworks, and the GIS-centric approach. In Polaris Partners and Blue Cloud Ventures I have found such partners who have a long-term vision and value the importance of Cityworks and GIS-centric in the public asset management market space.
Bryce Youngren, managing partner at Polaris Partners, commented, “We are thrilled to be partnering with Brian and the entire team at Cityworks. As evidenced by its growth and customer retention, Cityworks provides a best-in-class combination of domain expertise, innovation, and service. We look forward to partnering with the team to help accelerate their footprint both in the U.S. and abroad.”
Mir Arif, partner at Blue Cloud Ventures, added, “Brian Haslam and his team have built a highly valuable business by maintaining a razor-sharp focus on customer success. We look forward to partnering with them as they continue enhancing and expanding the Cityworks GIS-centric public asset management product portfolio to meet customer needs.”
With our clients and partners, the Cityworks team is excited to continue advancing the banner of GIS-centric, including incorporating the ArcGIS Web GIS patterns—the Web GIS-centricTM Platform. We are excited to have two great new partners who serve on our board of directors. I am still the president and CEO, and my brother and I are majority owners. The Cityworks employees our clients and partners have come to rely on are still with us. Cityworks with ArcGIS can still be counted on to help manage the critical public asset management workflow needs for smart local government and utility organizations, today and for the future.
Polaris Partners invests in exceptional technology and healthcare companies across all stages of their life cycles. With offices in Boston, San Francisco, and Dublin, we partner globally with an unparalleled network of repeat entrepreneurs, top scientists, and emerging innovators who are making significant contributions in their fields and improving the way in which we live and work.
Blue Cloud Ventures (BCV) is a New York-based growth equity fund focused on providing flexible capital to innovative cloud-based enterprise software companies. Within three years, BCV has raised two sequential funds, backed twenty market-leading software companies, and quickly differentiated itself with its unique investment strategy of providing right-sized financing to target gaps in the growth and late stage funding markets.