Semantra to unveil CRM software, hire staff - Dallas Business Journal:

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million in revenue during the next12 months, with the bulk of that cominb from a new product scheduled for an Aprio release. Chris Davis, president and CEO of , expect the software developer to boostits 24-perso staff by 15 people during that time as it unveilas its new baby, dubbed Semantra 2.0 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The producg strives to make it fast and easy for nontechiesa to find information containedin what's called "customer relationshipo management" software, or CRM.
CRM manage a business' activities before and after it sells including sales, customer service and "There is not sufficient access to users of the (CRM) says Cody Aufricht, Semantra's vice presidentr of marketing. "If you're a vice president of salex ... you can't go into the CRM syste and go get the datayou You're reliant on (the information-technology to run reports." Aufricht says Semantra's software allows business people to use "naturao language" to find, say, how many sales prospects a business has that are greater than $100,000 and are expecteds to close by a certain date. "That will pop into your browser," he says.
Early feedback from companiesx that havetested Semantra's technology has been "It's a wonderful tool. It's an awesome says Travis Grubbs, vice president of information technologyat , an Irving technical-services concern. Grubbws says he hopes ePartnerss will become a customerof "It's something I think we'd definitely be able to To help the business grow faster, Semantr ( ) plans to primarily use re-sellers to handle the salezs and service side of its product. Amongf other things, ePartners does re-sellintg of technology products. Grubbs says ePartners currently hasno re-sellint agreement with Semantra, but suggests one could be set up if both partiews are amenable.
Semantra began generating revenue in May 2005 with the releases ofversion 1.0 of its software. The company hopes to get off the launcyh pad with thesecond permutation, which Davis says shoul d pull in $1.5 million to $2 million over the next year. He says the company'ds total revenue may be closerto $2 millionj to $2.5 million because it may release another producg during that time. Like virtually all startups, Semantrsa is currently losing monety as it seeksto grow. Davis expect the business to become cash-flow positive -- meaning generatinhg more cash than it isconsuming -- by the firs quarter of 2010.
The companuy has received a total ofnearlhy $6 million in financing, most of whicbh has come from Dallas' Cardinal Capital, a private-equity shop led by Edwarf "Rusty" Rose, whose credits include a stintt at co-owner of the in the '80s and Davis expects to close another round, worth probably $3 million to $5 million, at the end of the seconcd quarter of this year.