{"id":317492,"date":"2025-11-27T22:26:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T22:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/317492\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T22:26:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T22:26:09","slug":"nebraska-startup-companycam-now-valued-at-2-billion-a-first-in-state-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/317492\/","title":{"rendered":"Nebraska startup CompanyCam now valued at $2 billion \u2013 a first in state history"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story was reported by Silicon Prairie News<\/a>, Flatwater\u2019s sister publication, which covers tech, entrepreneurship and business news in Nebraska.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

A Nebraska startup has attained coveted \u201cunicorn\u201d status after raising the largest single equity investment in the state\u2019s history. <\/p>\n

Local economic development and policy leaders tout the achievement as a major milestone that counters the narrative that Nebraska lacks the people and cash needed to scale a startup to the highest level. <\/p>\n

In August, CompanyCam<\/a>, a Lincoln-based construction site documentation and project management platform, announced a late-stage funding round<\/a> led by B Capital, an international venture capital firm. <\/p>\n

Leaders at CompanyCam declined to disclose the amount raised during the round. However, data from private capital market research platform PitchBook shows the investment totaled $415 million<\/a>, which makes it the largest single equity investment round (excluding debt financing<\/a>) in Nebraska startup history. <\/p>\n

According to PitchBook\u2019s unicorn tracker<\/a>, CompanyCam is now valued at $2 billion. That catapulted the company to unicorn status, which in the startup world is a privately held company that is valued at $1 billion or more. That\u2019s a first for any startup founded in Nebraska. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a remarkable achievement for a company that\u2019s 10 years old,\u201d said Dan Hoffman, the CEO of Invest Nebraska, a nonprofit that was an early investor in the startup. \u201cBeing the first unicorn starting off as an idea in 2015 and reaching this milestone in the year 2025 furthers the ecosystem knowing that these types of companies can be built in Nebraska.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tech Nebraska Executive Director Emily Allen agreed.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cCompanyCam\u2019s achievement marks a defining moment for Nebraska\u2019s tech ecosystem,\u201d Allen said in an email. \u201cReaching a $2B valuation demonstrates that world-class innovation can originate and thrive in our state.\u201d <\/p>\n

From BIA Prototype Grant recipient to unicorn status <\/p>\n

CompanyCam CEO Luke Hansen founded the startup in 2015 in response to a challenge he faced in his family\u2019s roofing business. <\/p>\n

\u201cI built this as a solution for a problem we were having at White Castle Roofing,\u201d Hansen told Silicon Prairie News that year<\/a>. \u201cI had searched on and off for months, trying to find software that would help us manage jobs better, and I found a few that kind of, sort of worked, but ultimately just decided that if I couldn\u2019t find something that could do what I wanted, I would just create it myself.\u201d <\/p>\n

The CompanyCam app launched in the iTunes marketplace (now the App Store) on July 1, 2015. The original version used photos and GPS to help contractors monitor the progress of all their job sites \u2014 instantly, from anywhere. In the process of solving his own problem, Hansen created a solution that appealed to other contractors. And his background in the industry positioned him as a compelling first salesperson for CompanyCam. <\/p>\n

Today, the CompanyCam app has more than 21,000 reviews and a 4.8 star rating in the App Store. <\/p>\n

In 2016, CompanyCam was awarded a $50,000 Prototype Grant<\/a> under the recently halted state Business Innovation Act<\/a>. The startup went on to receive funding from Invest Nebraska and raised $38 million in venture funding while growing to more than 200 employees by 2022. <\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Speaking on a panel at the 2025 Tech Nebraska Summit<\/a>, CompanyCam CFO Tullen Mabbutt cited the importance of the early-stage funding the company received from Nebraska investors as an important catalyst for the company\u2019s growth and success. <\/p>\n

CompanyCam raised a $30 million in its second big funding round in 2021<\/a>, led by Insight Partners.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Other CompanyCam investors include Nelnet, JMI Equity, Blueprint Equity, WndrCo and Decades Holdings. <\/p>\n

\u201cEarly innovation funding in Nebraska today means future, scalable companies starting in Nebraska,\u201d said Jason Ball, CEO of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce. \u201cThe Prototype Grant alone returns $13 to every $1 invested by the state<\/a> of Nebraska. Other programs funded through the Business Innovation Act have led to the infrastructure and ecosystem that makes Nebraska a competitive place for startup companies.\u201d <\/p>\n

The fact that the Business Innovation Act funds provide non-dilutive capital, which does not require entrepreneurs to give up any ownership in their company, is critical to help founders develop a proof of concept that they can take to the market, Invest Nebraska\u2019s Hoffman said. <\/p>\n

Keeping capital and talent in Nebraska\u00a0 <\/p>\n

CompanyCam is still \u201call in on Nebraska\u201d with 161 employees based at the Lincoln headquarters as of September \u2014 a 20% increase in headcount since 2023, according to an email to SPN from Haley Gonzales, a spokesperson for CompanyCam.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

As an investor in CompanyCam, Hoffman receives updates on the company\u2019s progress and plans. He said CompanyCam intends to hire another 50-60 employees in the next year. The average age of CompanyCam employees is 32 years old, he added.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want to address the brain drain in Nebraska<\/a>, these are the types of companies we need to grow.\u201d <\/p>\n

Beyond brain drain, Hoffman said there are real economic benefits to supporting high-growth tech startups in the state. Those jobs, at companies like Buildertrend, Hudl and Flywheel, often provide some type of stock incentive plans to their employees, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of that, when these companies grow to the point that CompanyCam has grown, it makes a lot of those employees instantly very wealthy\u2026,\u201d he said. \u201cIt creates a lot of wealth in Nebraska that otherwise is not being created by traditional companies.\u201d <\/p>\n

That wealth contributes to the local economy through growing the tax base, and it puts individuals in a position to invest in future startups. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not afraid to say it, we\u2019ve created liquidity,\u201d CompanyCam CFO Mabbutt said from the Tech Nebraska stage. \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of taxes paid locally, and people that are now in a position to reinvest.\u201d <\/p>\n

A strategic investment from B Capital <\/p>\n

B Capital is now CompanyCam\u2019s largest external investor. Facebook\u2019s first investor and co-founder, Eduardo Saverin<\/a>, is co-CEO at B Capital and co-founded the investment firm. <\/p>\n

Gonzales said CompanyCam CEO Hansen and the leadership team still maintain board and operational control of the startup. But B Capital brings more than funding to the table. <\/p>\n

\u201cTheir internal AI team and global network are big levers for us,\u201d Gonzales said. \u201cEduardo Saverin (and) B Capital open doors in tech, AI and international expansion.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gonzales said an expansion into the United Kingdom is in the works with potential to explore the broader European market in the future. <\/p>\n

CompanyCam saw 300% growth in AI actions within its platform in the last year, Gonzales said. The cash infusion and strategic support from B Capital will allow the company to accelerate development of AI features such as automatically generated reports and enhanced photo tagging and search capabilities, she added. <\/p>\n

The platform currently has hundreds of thousands of users around the world, according to CompanyCam leadership. In a 2022 fireside chat with Startup Grind<\/a> (now Scale Omaha), Hansen said the startup had north of $20 million in annual recurring revenue and growing. <\/p>\n

CompanyCam\u2019s \u201cNorth Star,\u201d Gonzales said, is to \u201cmake AI a teammate, not a gimmick\u201d for contractors using the app. <\/p>\n

In the meantime, CompanyCam\u2019s unicorn status is a North Star for the rest of the Nebraska startup community.. <\/p>\n

\u201cCompanyCam is a perfect example of the kind of primary job-generating company that we should all celebrate, creating high-paying jobs and long-term wealth in Nebraska,\u201d Lincoln Chamber CEO Ball said. <\/p>\n

Silicon Prairie News reporter Ben Goeser contributed to this report. <\/p>\n

Silicon Prairie News<\/a> is the leading independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on covering stories about innovation and entrepreneurship in Nebraska. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was reported by Silicon Prairie News, Flatwater\u2019s sister publication, which covers tech, entrepreneurship and business news…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[28,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-317492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-entrepreneurship"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}