Named one of the fastest-growing private companies in the country by Inc. Magazine, and one of the Top 10 IPOs in 2010, IntraLinks is an extraordinary story of entrepreneurship through good and bad economies that started in 1996 when it opened its doors. The company pioneered the new wave of offering clients Software as a Service for the secure exchange of critical information outside the firewall; however, it took an aggressive development strategy paired with strategic financial decisions during the past 10 years to ultimately overcome major financial challenges and achieve its current level of success.

Like many companies in 2001, amid the havoc of the dot-com crash, IntraLinks was underperforming and struggling to bring in steady revenue streams. It became clear to the management team that it needed to obtain outside financing to stay afloat and become a viable player in the space. IntraLinks turned to Habib Kairouz of Rho Ventures who understood the burgeoning market potential and believed in IntraLinks’ potential to aggressively pursue it. Under Kairouz’s leadership, Rho Ventures led a $50 million financing round for IntraLinks.

It was at that time that Habib began working closely with IntraLinks’ management team to develop a growth and recovery strategy that would ultimately result in the company’s remarkable turnaround. The partnership focused on diversifying revenue outside of the debt capital market vertical, expanding into adjacent financial markets, doubling revenues outside the United States and becoming a dominant player in the M&A and alternative investment community.

In 2007, with the company back on track and achieving significant success, TA Associates led a leveraged buyout of the company. In connection with the transaction, Rho agreed to reinvest its substantial stake in the business to back the company’s next phase of dramatic growth.

“Habib takes a very constructive long-term view when investing, looking for the best opportunities, not only to grow the business today, but more importantly down the road,” IntraLinks CEO Andrew Damico said. “He is one of those people who rolls up his sleeves, works collaboratively with the team and immerses himself in the challenges. Habib worked with the founders and remained a lead investor all the way through the new strategic initiatives and financial transactions that ultimately made IntraLinks a huge success.”

Persistence pays off – in August 2010, IntraLinks went public (NYSE: IL), representing one of Rho Venture’s most successful investments to date and having achieved a market capitalization in excess of $1 billion in October 2010. More than 1.3 million professionals have used IntraLinks’ On Demand secure document exchange platform, and the company has an impressive client roster that includes 50 of the largest global banks, 25 of the largest law firms and 10 of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. IntraLinks has fundamentally changed the way businesses exchange critical information and is now an industry standard.