LOUISVILLE - Software company Coalfire Systems Inc. received $3.6 million in new venture capital financing from Baird Capital in Chicago.

The money will be used to fund new business initiatives, the company said in a press statement. While no specific initiatives were given, audit, risk assessment and compliance management software used by companies in the health-care industry and others are driving Coalfire's growth, Jim Pavlik, a partner at Baird Capital's venture group and a member of Coalfire's board of directors, said in the press statement.

"IT GRC (risk assessment and compliance management software) has become a top priority for just about every enterprise," Pavlik said, "and savvy leaders want the peace of mind that comes from a fully independent auditor like Coalfire."

Baird Capital previously invested $5 million in Coalfire in February 2011. Baird is the direct private investment arm of Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In 2012, Coalfire grew from 94 employees to nearly 130 in seven offices in the United States and increased revenue by more than 35 percent, according to the press statement. In addition to Louisville, Coalfire's offices are in Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Coalfire also completed its first acquisition of another company in 2012 for an undisclosed sum - Digital Resources Group, a computer data-security firm in Redwood City, California.