Rock Solid Technologies, Strattam Capital partner to expand business, add jobs
Puerto Rican software and IT services company Rock Solid Technologies announced a majority growth investment from Texas-based Strattam Capital to accelerate growth in the North American market for its civic engagement platform, RESPOND.
The undisclosed investment by the Texas firm will also enable Rock Solid to add 100 new jobs in Puerto Rico to its 134-person roster in the next five years, Vice-President Ángel L. Pérez said during a news conference. The new jobs will be mostly in software engineering and information systems consulting. At present, the company has 27 vacancies it has been unable to fill for a lack of human capital, Pérez confirmed.
RESPOND is a civic engagement platform that provides a centralized database which facilitates the connection of citizens with government. Serving over seven million citizens, the web-based solution is configured according to the requirements of local governments and takes advantages of predefined and configurable workflows that have been built through the years in partnership with government agencies, countries, municipalities, and public corporations in the Caribbean, Latin America, Canada, and the United States, the executive said.
Pérez said this new capital injection will allow Rock Solid to continue to promote products developed in Puerto Rico, which are winners of global awards and based on Microsoft Dynamics 2018.
“We have demonstrated that our local talent can compete globally, attracting capital to fund our growth is crucial to our expansion strategy,” said Pérez. Rock Solid has offices in both San Juan and Austin, Texas.
Rick Brown, president of Rock Solid Technologies, said Puerto Rico has an “extraordinary amount of talent in that the same person can function not only in two different languages, but in two different cultures.”
“People in Latin America want to buy technology from U.S. companies, but don’t want to work with Americans. Puerto Rico can offer both,” he said. “I don’t think Puerto Rico has taken full advantage of that skill. We’re building products here that compete with 30,000 companies in the Microsoft ecosystem. And we win awards.”
A few weeks ago, Rock Solid extended its growth spurt with contracts in several cities in Canada and the U.S. mainland.
“With the support of Strattam Capital, we’re confident that in the next few years Rock Solid, which has been developing software solutions in Puerto Rico for the past 15 years, will become a top player in the global market,” said Brown.
Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, who was present at the announcement, said Rock Solid “is undoubtedly an example of how a Puerto Rican company can evolve and reach new markets in the United States, Central America and Canada. Its continued success should serve as an example for new companies that seek to maximize their services.”
This transaction was facilitated by IT ExchangeNet, a leading Microsoft channel mergers and acquisitions firm, Rock Solid confirmed.
