Bonfire Reports Record Growth in 2020, Fueling Momentum for Year Ahead

Rhea-AI Summary

Bonfire Interactive Ltd., a unit of GTY Technology, reported record achievements in 2020, including 137 new clients and doubled vendor access despite COVID-19 challenges impacting state budgets and jobs. Significant new clients include major transportation and port authorities, schools, and counties across North America. Bonfire launched new features like Benchmarking and an Intake module to enhance procurement processes. Their database now features over 250,000 vendors, underpinning their growth and commitment to supporting public procurement during the pandemic.

Positive

• Achieved record customer growth with 137 new clients, enhancing service reach.
• Doubled vendors available to public agencies, now exceeding 250,000.
• Launched innovative features like Benchmarking and an Intake module to streamline procurement.

Negative

• COVID-19 led to significant job losses (1.3 million) and a $555 billion shortfall for state budgets.

Today Bonfire Interactive Ltd. (“Bonfire”), a business unit of GTY Technology and a leader in strategic sourcing and procurement software for the public sector, reports the 2020 achievements that will support further growth for the year ahead. Achievements include record customer growth, record vendor growth, and high project volumes despite COVID-19 disruptions.

US state and local governments shed 1.3 million jobs in the past year, while state budget shortfalls will reach an estimated $555 billion due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these impacts, 2020 was Bonfire’s largest sales year to date. Achievements include the following:

• Bonfire welcomed 137 new clients including 9 transportation authorities (inclusive of one of the largest in the US), 15 port authorities (inclusive of the largest in the US), 22 schools and/or school districts, 14 cities, and 17 counties across North America. New clients added to Bonfire’s 450+ customers include: Richland County, SC; Barnstable County, MA; Harris County, TX; Lee County Schools, FL; Jacksonville Transportation Authority, FL; Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation, ON; and Delaware Health and Social Services, DE.
• Bonfire launched Benchmarking, a feature that helps to streamline the creation of bids and RFPs by displaying relevant category data for typical timelines, criteria weighting, vendor participation and requested information.
• Bonfire’s Intake module was launched to make it easier for stakeholders to work with the procurement team. It provides one central place for all request information as well as an elegant dashboard that displays the procurement team’s project pipeline.
• Bonfire doubled the number of vendors that public agencies have access to within the platform, closing the year with over 250,000 vendors in the database. Bonfire’s large and rapidly growing vendor database continues to play a critical role supporting public procurement professionals to quickly find, attract and encourage bid competitiveness to achieve best outcomes for both simple bids and complex RFP’s alike.

“As the public sector entered emergency crisis mode in 2020, we knew immediately that we had to find new ways to best support them as they navigated drastically different work environments, supply chains, and the swift transitions from paper to digital processes,” said Bonfire CEO, Corry Flatt. “The results of this past year are a testament to our team's commitment to the success of all of our clients and our dedication to support the public sector, even in the toughest of times.”

During COVID-19 pandemic lock-downs, Bonfire offered a variety of programs to help public agencies navigate new challenges. Programs included access to the Bonfire platform for free for 90 days to help agencies get processes online fast, reference guides for leveraging CARES Coronavirus Relief Funding to invest in procurement solutions, and delivering publicly available webinars to share insights on procurement best practices during a pandemic in order to support the community of public procurement professionals across North America.

“The crisis isn’t over and the wave of digital transformation will continue well into the future at an accelerated pace as public procurement teams shift to adjust,” says Omar Salaymeh, Chief Client and Product Officer at Bonfire. “Based on what we’ve heard from our clients, we plan to release a host of innovative new product functionality that will support their priorities in the coming year while more broadly helping those in government and public procurement transition easily and quickly to digital processes.”

To learn more information about the Bonfire Strategic Sourcing solution visit www.gobonfire.com.

About Bonfire Interactive Inc.

Bonfire Interactive Inc. (“Bonfire”) is a business unit of GTY Technology Holdings Inc. and a leader in strategic sourcing and procurement software. Bonfire brings procurement online, ensuring 100% compliance, reducing cycle times, and improving transparency. Through the power of tools optimized for collaboration and in-app access to RFP insights and templates (surfaced from Bonfire’s library of 40,000+ projects), Bonfire unlocks procurement’s potential to drive greater agency impact, achieve better outcomes, and engage colleagues along the way. Bonfire’s proven history of customer-driven innovation is trusted by hundreds of public procurement teams across North America.

About GTY Technology Holdings Inc.

GTY Technology Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: GTYH) (“GTY”) brings leading government technology companies together to achieve a new standard in citizen engagement and resource management. Through its six business units, GTY offers an intuitive cloud-based suite of solutions for state and local governments spanning functions in procurement, payments, grant management, budgeting, and permitting: Bonfire provides strategic sourcing and procurement software to enable confident and compliant spend; CityBase provides government payment solutions to connect constituents with utilities and government agencies; eCivis offers a grant management system to maximize grant revenues and track performance; Open Counter provides government payment software to guide applicants through complex permitting and licensing procedures; Questica offers budget preparation and management software to deliver on financial and non-financial strategic objectives; Sherpa provides public sector budgeting software and consulting services.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company’s actual results may differ from its expectations, estimates and projections and, consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as “expect,” “estimate,” “project,” “budget,” “forecast,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “believes,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the company’s expectations with respect to future performance. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. Most of these factors are outside of the company’s control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, or other public health crises, on our operations, our customers and the economy; (2) the risk that the ongoing integration of the businesses acquired in our business combination disrupts current plans and operations; (3) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of the combined company to grow and manage growth profitably and retain its key employees; (4) our failure to generate sufficient cash flow from our business to make payments on our debt; (5) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (6) the possibility that the company may be adversely affected by other economic, business or competitive factors; and (7) other risks and uncertainties included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and our subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We caution you that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive, and readers should not place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. We do not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in our expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

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FAQ

What were Bonfire's 2020 achievements related to client growth?

Bonfire gained 137 new clients, including major transportation and port authorities.

How many vendors does Bonfire have in its database?

Bonfire's vendor database has over 250,000 vendors.

What features did Bonfire launch in 2020 to support procurement?

Bonfire introduced the Benchmarking feature and the Intake module to improve procurement processes.

What impact did COVID-19 have on state budgets mentioned in the press release?

State budget shortfalls are estimated to reach $555 billion due to COVID-19.

How did Bonfire support public agencies during the pandemic?

Bonfire offered free access to its platform for 90 days and provided resources for navigating procurement challenges.