Onvia was founded in 1996 by 25-year-old Canadian entrepreneur Glenn Ballman,[1] as a one-stop shop for small business owners, initially selling over 25,000 office supplies on its website, Onvia.com. Onvia raised US $70 million in early rounds of financing,[2] and went public on March 1, 2000 on the NASDAQ[3] where it raised US $235 million. In August 2000 the company was awarded "Hottest Startup in Canada" by the Toronto Board of Trade and Profit Magazine.[4] In August 2000 Onvia acquired Globe-1, a business-to-government portal, turning the company's focus away from e-commerce to the government-bid space. Onvia then used its cash reserves to buy competitors, including DemandStar in March 2001.[5]
In 2005, Onvia released Onvia Business Builder, a tool allowing subscribers to research historical and real-time data on individual government contract opportunities [6] Onvia continued to focus on the business to government market until the launch of their private sector tool, Onvia Planning and Construction, in February 2008.[7] In the third quarter of 2007, Onvia reported net income for the first time, but has lost money in all but that one quarter, according to its SEC filings.[8]
In early 2009, Onvia launched www.recovery.gov, with the stated goal of bringing increased transparency and accountability to economic recovery spending. The site features real-time data, maps, and graphs detailing the spending activity associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act [9]
In November 2017, Onvia was purchased by Deltek,[10] a division of Roper Technologies.[11]
