Umbraco Monterro

Investment year: 2021

Area: Content Management

# employees: 150

A snapshot

Founded in 2005, Umbraco is an open-source Content Management System (CMS) built on the Microsoft .NET framework. It has grown into a reliable, user friendly and adaptable platform, favoured by developers worldwide.

With over 700,000 websites powered through their open-source platform – Umbraco’s flexibility and scalability are evident, being awarded as an industry leader in 2024.

But what truly sets Umbraco apart is its vibrant and active developer community. This community continuously contributes code and innovations, ensuring that the platform remains competitive and forward-thinking.

“Umbraco has a strong developer community contributing to its open-source software, which helps drive continuous innovation.” – Kim Sneum Madsen, former CEO, and now a board member of Umbraco.

The crossroads: Umbraco’s pre-Monterro challenges

While Umbraco’s product and developer community were thriving, the business faced challenges. The world outside Umbraco changed, competitors were well funded and grew substantially, so in order to stay competitive Umbraco needed to change.

Umbraco decided to look for an investor which could support the future of the company as an Open Source software vendor, retaining the unique characteristics of Umbraco.

“We had a great product and community, but we had limited resources to grow the business.” – Kim Sneum Madsen.

Existing revenue streams, such as support services, were in place but lacked the necessary resources to scale. Umbraco needed both financial and human resources to move from a promising product company to a global player in the CMS market.

Seizing the opportunity for growth

When Monterro partnered with Umbraco, they brought with them deep previous knowledge of the open-source CMS industry. This expertise and experience in the market made the Monterro team uniquely suited to guide Umbraco’s growth journey.

Recognising untapped potential in key international markets like the US and UK—where Umbraco had a presence but was underutilised—Monterro saw an opportunity to expand.

“Umbraco has already proven its value with a loyal customer base and developer community. We saw this as a way to build on that.” – Martin Henricson, Managing Director of Monterro and Chairman of the board at Umbraco.

How Monterro are helping Umbraco grow

Developing the offering

To expand Umbraco’s value proposition, Monterro guided the development of its add-on services, such as cloud hosting and enhanced support capabilities. These services not only provided more value to customers but also diversified revenue streams.

Additionally, Monterro facilitated the acquisition of complementary technologies, often sourced from Umbraco’s strong developer network, including e-commerce tools that expanded the CMS’s capabilities.

“We needed to move beyond free open-source and develop services that would help us monetize effectively.” – Martin Henricson. “In addition we focused the business on identifying ICPs and regions to operate in.” – Kim Sneum Madsen

This approach transformed Umbraco’s offering, making it a more comprehensive solution for businesses of all sizes.

Optimising sales and marketing operations

Monterro’s expertise in sales operations such as pipeline management and lead generation helped streamline Umbraco’s sales approach.

The team shifted from a reactive to a proactive stance, focusing on high-impact opportunities with a clear, structured marketing strategy. Outbound efforts were targeted specifically towards key markets, resulting in more organised and effective growth.

“With Monterro’s help, we shifted from a reactive approach to a proactive one, targeting the right customers.” – Kim Sneum Madsen.

International expansion

Recognising the potential in the US and UK markets, Monterro supported Umbraco in scaling its operations abroad. By hiring a Chief Sales Officer to establish a local presence in the US, Monterro enabled Umbraco to convert its existing developer relationships into substantial market opportunities.

Monterro and Umbraco also utilised the network of developers to make strategic acquisitions in UK and NL markets, allowing them to build their offering and expand into new markets at the same time.

“We have a global ecosystem, but Monterro helped us turn those relationships into real market opportunities,” Kim Sneum Madsen.

Revamping the pricing model for partners

Monterro also introduced a tiered pricing model for Umbraco’s partners, based on credits. This innovative model allowed partners to pay for services upfront, transforming how revenue was recorded and creating a steady stream of recurring revenue.

Partners appreciated the clear value in using credits for services like training, cloud hosting, and support.

“The credits system transformed how we generate revenue, aligning with our growth objectives and increasing recurring income.” – Martin Henricson.

“Monterro has helped us to transition from a great product company into a truly great business.”

Kim Sneum Madsen, former CEO, and now a board member of Umbraco.

The importance of maintaining Umbraco’s friendly culture

Throughout this growth journey, Monterro remained mindful of the importance of preserving Umbraco’s unique culture—a community-driven atmosphere built on trust, openness, and friendliness.

Umbraco implemented a structured onboarding and continuous training program to ensure that the “Umbraco Way” remained a core aspect of the company, even as it expanded.

Despite rapid growth, Umbraco successfully maintained its close-knit, community feel, with developers continuing to view the company as their “home.”

“Customer service isn’t just a department here—it’s an attitude that permeates the whole company.” – Kim Sneum Madsen.

Key differences before Monterro, and with Monterro

Before Monterro:

- - - Expansion from a local to an international market presence.
    - Umbraco operated with a small team of 60 employees.

Today:

- - - Revenue has doubled to 120 million Danish Krone.
    - The company has expanded its team to 150 employees.

“We’ve supported Umbraco to build a commercial engine that will drive profitable growth for years to come.” – Martin Henricson.

Advice to businesses in Umbraco’s position

For companies looking to expand with the help of an investor, transparent communication is essential.

“One of the most important things for anyone looking for an investor partner to expand their business is to be completely transparent with each other from day one. If you communicate everything that needs to be improved, we can improve it, but if we don’t know everything, we won’t be able to.” – Martin Henricson.