Smarsh

Smarsh Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustryFinancial services, public sector
Founded2001; 25 years ago (2001)
FounderStephen Marsh
Headquarters851 SW 6th Ave #800,
Portland, Oregon
,
United States
Number of locations
11
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
ProductsCommunications capture
Regulatory archiving
Communications surveillance
eDiscovery
Call recording and analytics
Number of employees
1,400 (2026)
ParentK1 Investment Management
Websitehttps://www.smarsh.com

Smarsh Inc. (stylized as smarsh) is an American AI-powered software company that develops software for communications compliance, archiving, supervision, and electronic discovery. The company provides products that are used mainly by organizations in regulated sectors, especially financial services and government.

Smarsh was founded in 2001 and initially focused on email archiving before expanding into web archiving, mobile and voice capture, cybersecurity, and AI-assisted surveillance through a series of acquisitions.

History

The company was founded in Brooklyn, New York in 2001. The founder, Stephen Marsh, believed that the financial industry needed a better way to archive, store, and regulate its data as regulations required. In 2004, the company relocated its headquarters to Portland, Oregon.

In 2012, Quest Software, which owned 60% of Smarsh, was sold to Dell Computer. In 2013, Dell sold its stake to California investment firm Toba Capital.

In 2018, K1 Investment Management acquired Actiance and merged with Smarsh shortly after.

In 2020, Kim Crawford Goodman joined Smarsh as their new CEO.

In 2024, Smarsh entered a five-year strategic agreement with Amazon Web Services to develop generative AI offerings for financial services.

Acquisitions

Smarsh has acquired a number of companies since its founding in 2001.

Date Acquisition Added value Reference
2008 CentraScan Email management service
2008 Financial Visions Inc. Website compliance
2008 iNation, LLC Financial CRM
2012 Perpetually Web archiving
2015 Presensoft Cloud-based instant message archiving
2016 MobileGuard Mobile communication monitoring and retention
2017 Cognia Improve Smarsh’s voice communication capabilities for mobile and landline devices
2018 Actiance K1 Investment Management acquired Actiance Inc. and merged with Smarsh
2020 Digital Reasoning Natural language processing and machine learning application, was added to Smarsh’s portfolio to expand AI-driven analysis and risk detection services
2020 Entreda Integrated cybersecurity risk and compliance management software and services
2021 Privva Cybersecurity risk assessment platform, integrated with Entreda
2022 Digital Safe Archiving and risk management portfolio from Micro Focus
2024 TeleMessage Archives Signal conversations
2025 CallCabinet AI voice recording and cloud analysis software

Operations

When first founded, Smarsh offered email archiving and compliance recordkeeping services. By 2012, American Banker reported that the company began preserving complex web content, including links, video, and social-media-related material, in response to regulatory scrutiny of digital communications.

Smarsh uses its “software as a service" (SaaS) platform to manage cloud-based messages across 100+ channels, including email, social media, mobile/text messaging, web and voice channels. It works with governance and supervision, enabling organizations to manage risk while capturing, retaining and archiving records. Since the 2020s, the company has integrated AI tools for risk detection analysis and customer support.

Reception

Smarsh was listed as one of the Gartner Magic Quadrant leaders for Digital Communications Governance and Archiving in 2024 and 2025.

In 2025, Amazon Web Services named Smarsh as its “Vertical Technology Partner of the Year” and USA Today included the company on its “Top Workplaces” ranking. Smarsh was also listed on Inc.’s 5000 list for its 18th consecutive year.

References

  1. ↑ Miller, Ron (15 November 2017). "Two Compliance Companies Merge to Build a $100M Firm". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  2. 1 2 Spencer, Malia (December 8, 2016). "Smarsh Beefs Up Mobile Archiving Abilities". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 "Smarsh Acquires CallCabinet to "Transform" AI-Powered Voice Compliance in Customer Experience". CX Today. February 4, 2025. Retrieved May 14, 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Smarsh Introduces Groundbreaking Text Message Archiving Solution for Federal Government". Corporate Compliance Insights. July 1, 2020. Retrieved May 14, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Company Overview". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  6. ↑ Rogoway, Mike (June 13, 2013). "Smarsh, An Archivist for the Information Age". Oregon Live. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Earnshaw, Aliza (April 20, 2008). "Smarsh expects to double revenue to $10M". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 Rogoway, Mike (November 5, 2013). "Dell Sells its Majority Stake in Smarsh to Investment Fund Toba Capital". Oregon Live. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  9. 1 2 "Smarsh to merge with Actiance in bid to become a $100M compliance powerhouse". SiliconANGLE. 2017-11-15. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
  10. ↑ "Smarsh Welcomes Kim Crawford Goodman as New Chief Executive Officer". Smarsh. Retrieved 2025-06-24.
  11. ↑ "Smarsh and AWS Strengthen Partnership with New 5-Year Agreement". AWS. Retrieved May 14, 2026.
  12. ↑ Cook, Jordan (May 16, 2012). "Smarsh Acquires Former TC50 Finalist Perpetually, Founder Thanks NY Tech Scene". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  13. ↑ Spencer, Malia (February 4, 2015). "Smarsh Buys Houston-Based Archiving Firm". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  14. ↑ Spencer, Malia (17 August 2017). "Smarsh buys London voice archiving firm". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  15. ↑ Davis Janowski (November 10, 2020). "Smarsh to Acquire AI Pioneer Digital Reasoning". Wealth Management. Retrieved May 14, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Smarsh acquires cybersecurity compliance and risk analytics firm Entreda". SiliconANGLE. 2020-05-21. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
  17. ↑ Davis Janowski (November 1, 2021). "Smarsh Subsidiary Entreda Acquires Privva". Wealth Management. Retrieved May 14, 2026.
  18. ↑ Joyce Wells (November 4, 2021). "Smarsh acquires Digital Safe product line from Micro Focus". KM World. Retrieved May 14, 2026.
  19. ↑ "Smarsh Completes Acquisition of TeleMessage, Extends Communications Compliance Leadership". Smarsh. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  20. ↑ John Adams (June 7, 2012). "New Technology Emerges to Archive Web Pages". American Banker. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  21. ↑ Thor Olavsrud (September 4, 2025). "Smarsh turns to Salesforce AI agent for customer service". CIO. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  22. ↑ Michael Hoeck; Jeffrey Hewitt (December 4, 2025). "Magic Quadrant for Digital Communications Governance and Archiving Solutions" (PDF). Gartner. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  23. ↑ Andrew Somera (December 1, 2025). "Announcing the 2025 Geo and Global AWS Partners of the Year". AWS. Retrieved May 14, 2026.
  24. ↑ "Top Workplaces". Top Workplaces. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  25. ↑ "No. 3,437". Inc. Retrieved June 21, 2026.