Fourteen years ago, Dude Solutions was an unknown startup operating from a Cary apartment. Today, the company co-founded by Kent Hudson and Lee Prevost is still in Cary. But now the company stakes a claim as an industry leader offering software to manage buildings. And now the company has a $100 million financial commitment to grow that business even more.

Schools, universities and hospitals are among the customers that use Dude’s cloud-based software to optimize maintenance, energy use and other aspects of their facilities. The company now has more than 2 million users, mostly in the United States and Canada.

New York private equity firm Warburg Pincus on Monday announced a commitment to invest up to $100 million in Dude, an investment that gives the firm a minority stake in the cloud-based software company. Dude will use the capital to expand the company’s business with a target of 100 new employees expected this year added to the current 220 headcount as well as a broader portfolio of services, including offerings in mobile technology and big data.

“We hold some of the largest databases that have ever existed,” Hudson told WRALTechWire. “For example, we have more information on how schools consume energy than the Department of Energy’s Energy Star program has. Data mining and data sciences, it has a high, expensive barrier to entry. It’s something that when you’re bootstrapped, you can’t really play that game.”

Dude now has the money to play that game in a very big way.

Completely self funded

Until the Warburg Pincus investment, Dude Solutions had been completely self funded. Hudson said private equity firms approached Dude in recent years offering to infuse the company with growth capital but the company made no deals. Last June, however, Dude’s executive team started exploring the possibility of seeking the company’s first ever outside investment. Dude was doing well and could continue to be a good company on its own, Hudson explained. But executives also saw growth opportunities in North America as well as the potential for the company to introduce additional products. Hudson said that to achieve that growth and take advantage of new business opportunities, Dude needed a financial partner. That partner turned out to be Warburg Pincus.

Warburg Pincus Managing Director Alex Berzofsky said that as a growth investor, the firm looks at hundreds of potential investments each year and chooses to put its money in only a select few. He said Warburg Pincus was impressed with the leadership position Dude Solutions build in cloud-based software for facilities management.

“In the facilities management space, we found the very best right here in North Carolina,” Berzofsky said.

Besides supporting the expansion of Dude’s offerings the growth capital will also be used for strategic acquisitions.

The global market for facilities management is projected to reach $394.7 billion by 2017, according to a recent research report from Global Industry Analysts. Most of the revenue from this market comes from business in the United States and Europe. The report, “Facilities Management – A Global Strategic Business Report,” adds that in the mature markets of North America and Japan, growth will be modest, limited by economic conditions as well as weakness in construction work. But the report projects growing demand for these services in emerging markets.

Dude software is used in 20 countries but right now it is available only in English. Overseas, Dude software is used primarily in embassies and American schools. Hudson said more international growth will come in the future.

“In the short term we’re going to stay focused on North America because there’s so much market potential here,” he said. “We do realize that somewhere downstream we will go international but the next few years, there’s more marketing here than we can get to.”

Dude has grown to serve approximately 8,000 customers. The vast majority – about 6,000 customers – are in education, served by the company’s SchoolDude unit. FacilityDude, serving local government, health care organizations and other entities, launched in 2008. Dude software manages computers and other technology resources, schedules preventive maintenance, and maximizes and schedules the use of facilities.

By maximizing resources and improving efficiencies, the software saves money. Dude Solutions says its software is used by 182,000 facilities and manages 5.5 billion square feet. The company says its software results in $1.1 billion in savings per year along with 55.3 million in labor hours saved. With the new private equity investment, Hudson projects that Dude’s economic impact could grow to $10 billion in efficiency, productivity and other measures.

The Dude’s North Carolina presence

In North Carolina, Dude is used by 70 school districts, 45 local governments and 20 health care organizations. Wake Technical Community College has used Dude software for about seven years. Wake Tech President Stephen Scott said the software has become intertwined with Wake Tech facilities operations to the point that “School Dude” has become an everyday work term.

“When someone needs a work order done, they just say, ‘Oh, I’ve got to do a School Dude,’” Scott said.

Besides being user of Dude software, Wake Tech also funnels workers to the company. During the Monday event announcing the Warburg Pincus investment, Scott asked the standing-room only crowd comprised in part of Dude employees how many of them attended or graduated from Wake Tech. A smattering of hands went up.

“The knowledge economy, that’s where we’re going,” Scott said. “And you’re one of the leaders in the world.”

With the Warburg Pincus investment, Hudson projects the Dude Solutions expansion will triple its current 220-employee headcount within five years. Hudson said the company’s hiring strategy isn’t tied too much to specific academic degrees. Instead, the company puts greater emphasis on a candidate’s ability to learn. New workers will be brought on board and taught how to do the work in a wide range of jobs at the company. New hires will come in a range of positions including sales, marketing and information technology.