CHAPEL HILL – Brandon Lee, CEO of startup Terra Dotta, is gearing up to grow his Chapel Hill-based company thanks to an infusion of $3.4 million in new capital.

LNC Partners, a private equity firm based in Virginia and a previous investor in the startup which provides solutions for institutions needing assistance to coordinate and operate international education programs, is providing the new cash.

Terra Dotta

Lee plans to expand Terra Dotta’s offerings, look for expansion opportunities – perhaps acquisitions – and will boost hiring.

In an exclusive Q&A with WRAL TechWire, Lee talks in detail about where the company is and where he sees it headed.

  • What is the mission of your firm and how does the new funding help you achieve that mission?

Terra Dotta’s mission is to serve as the trusted leader in higher education travel, study abroad and international program management solutions. Over 600 institutional offices use our enterprise-wide cloud solutions and mobile apps to automate and streamline all aspects of global collegiate travel and international student programs.

Our solutions and expertise help higher education teams optimize study abroad and international programs enrollment, deliver real-time, GPS-driven travel communication for students and faculty, facilitate international agreements and partnerships and ensure compliance and risk mitigation for international travel/scholar programs worldwide.

With this growth capital, Terra Dotta is positioned to enter our next phase of growth by expanding our solutions through enhancements and acquisitions, as well as through augmenting our staff resources to maintain our high-quality level of service at scale.

Brandon Lee

  • How do you plan to invest the funds?

We’ve experienced significant demand from our higher education institution clients as they seek technology solutions to help them centrally manage all aspects of study abroad, travel risk and international programs. To meet this demand and continue scaling the company, the investment will be used to support Terra Dotta’s next stage of growth, including enhancing and expanding our enterprise-wide solutions, pursuing new markets and acquisitions, and expanding our global team.

  • Will you be hiring and adding jobs? If so, how many and in what areas of expertise?

Yes, we will be hiring and are very excited about augmenting the Terra Dotta team with positions across all major areas of the business. We’ll be sharing open positions once they are available.

  • Why did you decide to seek funding at this time? Was organic growth not enough to meet objectives?

We’ve actually experienced significant organic growth, which has driven the need for more growth capital to bring our company to scale and fully meet market demand.

  • Why chose to work again with LNC Partners? What does the firm offer you other than the capital infusion?

LNC Partners has been a great investment partner to Terra Dotta since 2015 – they have recognized our ability to deliver consistent innovation to the higher education study abroad and International programs market and have provided insightful guidance to help elevate the company to the next level of success.