Waterdog secures more than $500K in funding

Date: 2/27/2015

SPRINGFIELD – When Delcie Bean started Waterdog Technologies, his goal was to disrupt the traditional IT distribution model by offering only the best products and backing them up with the strongest support. In a field saddled with overseas call centers, terrible response rates, horrible customer service and an overload of substandard products, Waterdog’s direct, hands-on business model has connected with IT resellers all over the continent.

As Waterdog quickly found success, Delcie realized they had to generate more funding in order to support the growth. They were able to secure more than $500,000 in funding from RVI, the Springfield Venture Fund and a selection of area business owners. The funding will be used to hire additional staff to keep up with the demand.

“The money from SVF ensures that we will be in Springfield for the long haul,” Delcie said. “When we were first seeking funding, we were afraid that we might have had to go outside of the area. We couldn’t be happier to be able to stay right here in downtown Springfield and be part of the city’s growth.”

Waterdog is located on the second floor of 1391 Main St. downtown but is currently in talks to build an expanded office space on the top floor to make room for the growth of their staff. They have taken on eight new staff members since this time last year, including Crash Lowe, an experienced, high-level sales director who relocated to the area to take the position. They plan to hire up to six more in 2015.

And that’s just the beginning.

“Waterdog is on a path reach the $10 million mark with about 30 employees within 5 years and the $100 million mark with around 50 employees within 10 years,” Bean said.

“Waterdog’s growth so far is a drop in the bucket compared to what’s ahead,” Crash added. “We have found a niche where the competition is stale and boring but the market is enormous and growing.”

It’s an ambitious undertaking, but Delcie Bean, who recently won BusinessWest’s “Entrepreneur Of The Year” award for his work with Waterdog, Paragus IT, Tech Foundry and other ventures, has proven himself up to the task.