Nitro picks up $3.5 million to double head count and race to the cloud

Nitro, a company that you’ve probably heard of at some point due to the popularity of its PDF tools, has changed its tack and taken on capital to expand its operations. Up to this point in the company’s history, it has been self-funded, focusing on profitability.

However, flush with $3.5 million from Starfish Ventures, the company intends to double its headcount, moving from 50 to 100 employees. Part of that hiring spree is designed to allow the firm to build what it calls a “dedicated cloud engineering team.”

We like Nitro because it’s a firm that we’ve known about for some time, that appears to be in the process of shaking up its operations. A company that has existed for more than a half decade, and has taken on no external funding, does not simply change its policies and accept outside cash without something changing internally.

What exactly is Nitro going to build in the cloud? According to its release on the matter, the company intends to do something, so far as we can tell, along the lines of “revolutioniz[ing] the way people work by making document collaboration and sharing as intuitive as it should be.” In the cloud. We’re not exactly sure what that will look like, but it doesn’t sound boring.

As we learn more of Nitro’s plans, we’ll bring them to you. It will be very interesting to watch the company transform. Let’s hope it can retain its culture in the face of a hiring binge.