BOSTON, MA – Clear Ballot, a leading election technology company, announced today that it has raised over $18 million to accelerate the company’s growth and customer success. Participants include venture capitalists Bessemer Venture Partners, Ventureforgood, and DN Capital, alongside private investors including well-known mutual fund manager, Peter Lynch, Endeca Founder and CEO, Steve Papa and Harvard University Professor, Michael Porter. The company will use the capital to accelerate development of innovative election products and expand customer engagement and service.
“Our democratic system is only as strong as its voting processes. In an election technology industry that has been entrenched and stagnant, Clear Ballot has introduced the first major technological advance in decades, capitalizing on new methods to visualize results, ultra-high-speed scanning, and modern browser technology from the likes of Google, Microsoft and Apple. Counties and municipalities adopting Clear Ballot are benefiting from elimination of manual processes, reduced training costs, and much faster resolution of close elections. Voters are benefiting from more convenience, better accessibility, and greater confidence in election results. Clear Ballot’s innovations promise to help advance our democracy for many years to come,” said Michael Porter, Harvard University Professor and Clear Ballot Investor.
Rapid adoption of Clear Ballot products has made the company the fastest growing in the election technology industry. In Washington State, following its certification in January 2017, 42% of registered voters will use ClearVote™ in their upcoming August election. Similarly, in the two years since Clear Ballot was certified in Oregon, 65% of registered voters in the state use the ClearVote voting system. This growth began in 2012 when Clear Ballot launched ClearAudit™, the nation’s first independent, automated audit system, and accelerated with the launch in 2015 of ClearVote, a complete new voting system designed to solve the problems of modern elections: security, speed, and transparency.
This investment will support Clear Ballot’s emergence as the leading election technology company in the country at a critical time in the industry. As current systems are well past the end of their lifecycles and in need of replacement, the most recent Presidential election has reminded the country of the importance of transparency and voter confidence in the election process.
“In a world where a news cycle does not go by without talk of obsolete election technology, the need for better security or the loss of voter confidence, Clear Ballot stands out as the modern technology antidote,” said Felda Hardymon, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “We see the confluence of public interest and the rapid obsolescence of existing election platforms as the perfect storm for Clear Ballot’s more accurate, accessible, and transparent offering. We are excited to be involved in a company where we can do well by doing good.”
Ventureforgood is focused on the intersection of business success and community need. “Clear Ballot’s extraordinary adoption rate demonstrates the real need for modern technology in the election industry,” said John Simon, an investor via Ventureforgood. “Ventureforgood also cares about improving the strength of our democracy, which is why we’re excited to back Clear Ballot as they increase transparency in elections and strengthen the infrastructure we rely on for election results we can trust. Clear Ballot has the technology and innovation to bring us into the future of voting, and we're excited to help contribute to their success.”
Clear Ballot CEO Larry Moore stated, “We are thrilled at the confidence shown by our investors in our continued success and the prospects ahead of us. These funds will be used to grow our presence nationally, to accelerate our development of innovative election products, and to expand our customer support and service team.”
About Clear Ballot:
Clear Ballot is the leader in election innovation modernizing the nation’s voting system. Clear Ballot has introduced a new class of tools and a modern approach to voting, enabling unprecedented speed, accuracy and transparency that officials and the voting public have sought for decades. Designed for ease-of-use, Clear Ballot’s browser-based software, used with commercially available scanning hardware, scales to election jurisdictions of all sizes and responds directly to the budgetary realities of counties and municipalities.
Clear Ballot election technology has been used in six states and is in process for national certification. Some of Clear Ballot’s firsts include the nation’s first 100% automated, independent statewide audit for the 2016 Presidential Election in the State of Maryland.
Contact:
Carolyn Weigold
Marketing & Communications Manager
media@clearballot.com