Can Kaseya Return to Rapid Growth Mode?

Kaseya CEO Gerald Blackie

First, some background.

Instead of focusing purely on the MSP market, Kaseya has bridged the IT management industry – helping MSPs and mid-market corporate IT managers to support PCs, servers and IT infrastructure. Instead of pitching itself as an RMM (remote monitoring and management) software company, Kaseya focuses on the $15 billion IT Operations Management industry plus Automated Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) and IT service desk (ITSD) offerings, with a growing emphasis on the SMB market.

Kaseya has 10,000 customers and also has a strong following in the MSP community. I believe Kaseya is among the largest independent software companies focused on empowering MSPs.

Changing Times

Still, multiple sources say, Kaseya’s growth has slowed in recent years. The sources indicate that Kaseya’s revenues grew significantly from 2005 to 2009 before the company apparently experienced some growing pains with a major software upgrade called K2 in 2010, and major R&D efforts involving SaaS and cloud computing. (Kaseya started out as an on-premises software provider before branching out into SaaS and cloud applications.)

Moreover, Kaseya has faced intensified competition in the MSP software market, where upstarts like LabTech Software (funded by ConnectWise Capital)  made aggressive moves in 2010 and 2011.

Kaseya Revenues

Sources indicate that Kaseya suffered a rare $2.9 million net loss in 2010 amid the K2 transition and SaaS initiatives. Kaseya has otherwise been profitable since 2005, the sources indicate. Plus, the sources say Kaseya has had the following revenues from 2005 to 2011:

The sources indicated that Kaseya, now at roughly 450 employees, is striving to hit somewhere around $96 million in revenues for 2012.

Also, a side note: Kaseya is a privately held company, and Kaseya hired a new CFO in December 2011. While I believe the figures above are accurate, I will seek more insights from Kaseya today.

Where Is Kaseya Going Next?

Kaseya has publicly disclosed a push into mobile device management. But sources say Kaseya is also focusing on such emerging opportunities as:

Kaseya CEO Perspectives

So how will Kaseya piece all of those software offerings into an integrated solution for MSPs and corporate IT managers? Kaseya CEO Gerald Blackie is set to address Kaseya Connect 2012 attendees today. And when I grab some time with Blackie, I will be sure to pursue answers to these seven questions.

Update: Here a recap of Blackie’s keynote, which just concluded.