Martello Technologies a Main Player in Ottawa’s Tech Scene

July 27, 2015

Securing the top spot in the Ottawa Business Journal’s list of fastest-growing companies this year, Martello Technologies is continuing its ascent among Ottawa’s tech companies.

Last year’s successes include closing a $3 million investment round and acquiring a French software company called NetVitesse.

“It’s not usual for a SaaS company to get there at this stage,” says Martello CEO Bruce Linton.

The software company, founded in 2009, offers MarWatch – a SaaS platform that provides fault and performance management capabilities, mainly for Mitel’s unified communications solutions.

Martello is backed by Wesley Clover, the investment management and holding firm headed by Sir Terry Matthews, who also co-founded Mitel.

This affiliation with Matthews and inclusion in the Wesley Clover portfolio has had a significant impact on Martello’s direction.

“[Matthews] has the ability to be a financial supporter of good ideas and stick with them…the second part is he’s a believer in telephony and unified communications – Mitel. That gave us our focus,” says Linton.

Linton says he became deeply involved in understanding the technology and requirements of Mitel’s products in order to best serve their clients. Catering to one primary vendor is not a common approach, but it’s one that should be, he says.

“The risk is not having one channel but having no leverage on that channel to get enough of their clients as our mutual clients. With more than 2,000 clients as our clients, the effect is ‘we’re in this together,’” Linton says.

This unique mindset was behind the company’s acquisition of NetVitesse in November of last year. While not a direct competitor, Linton recognized that the company produced software that could add another layer of service to their clients.

“The whole idea is to keep on having all the applications which could be valuable created here. So the acquisition was about consolidating value to the client and clarifying for the channel exactly who they should deal with,” says Linton.

The company is passively considering other acquisitions, says Linton, but for now, they have plenty of diversity. “We have customers in 18 countries, staff in three countries across five locations. We have 27 people in total.”

Speaking on Martello’s solid and continued revenue growth, Linton says, “It felt like things that you expected to work were working, and that doesn’t often happen.” This has instilled confidence in Martello’s investors, who take a hands-off approach and enable them to execute their business plan.

“What we’re doing is creating value and getting a lot of momentum on that,” Linton adds.