Sitecore – Denmark’s Highly Successful Tech Company

According to an IDC report, the global market for online content management grew 8.7% to $5.8 billion in 2013. The market was dominated by IBM, which accounted for 16% of the market’s share. OpenText came in second with 9% market share followed by Microsoft’s 7% share. IDC believes that while the industry is dominated by the top 3 vendors who account for more than a third of the total market, other smaller vendors have also been able to deliver very strong growth.

Sitecore’s Offerings
Copenhagen-based Sitecore is one such player which is making a big mark in this space. Sitecore was founded in 2002 by five technical colleagues after the idea of Sitecore struck while working in a custom software development company. Sitecore’s founders wanted to develop a product that would be based on Microsoft’s offerings but would be able to create and manage websites.

Gradually though, the company’s offerings have improved significantly. Sitecore remains in the Content Management and Web Experience Management space, but the technology has changed significantly since inception. From the early days when webpages were published as static HTML files, now their system offers a capability to create fully dynamic pages.

Today, Sitecore is more than just a web-based content management tool and they have expanded into digital marketing capabilities. Their product integrates web content management with marketing automation, email marketing, social media, e-commerce, optimization, and analytics that help marketers deliver advanced content customized for their end customers across multiple digital channels.

They have also successfully applied the principles of the rapidly growing mobile technology in their tools. Sitecore’s customers can now deliver a streamlined experience across devices and are able to create iOS-, Android-, and Windows-based apps to improve the mobile UI. The platform includes the ability to drive an end-to-end e-commerce experience that lets organizations acquire, nurture, transact, and retain customers.

They have more than 3,500 customers worldwide, which includes brands like American Express, Carnival Cruise Lines, EasyJet, Heineken, and Microsoft.

Sitecore’s Financials
Sitecore earns revenues by charging their customers a flexible tier-based model to cater to the various sizes of the organization. The price varies depending on the number of visitors to the sites and complexity of the transactions involved.

Sitecore has been self funded and has not taken venture investments. Their offerings have helped them deliver strong financials. Within the first two years of releasing their product, Sitecore was already generating more than $1 million in revenues, and they have been profitable since the beginning. Sitecore does not make their financials public. According to an article published earlier this year in Oresund Startups, they reported revenues of $20 million. While more recent revenues are not widely known, analysts estimate that Sitecore ended last year with profits of more than $30 million. We have not been able to verify these numbers from other sources.

The company has not announced any plans of going public, but local Danish press hopes that the company will be ready for an IPO in the next few years, giving their corner of the world some much-desired glory in the startup game of thrones!