Avencia CEO Robert Cheetham may be among few who shatter the early-on business model stereotype. Ask Cheetham if a healthy dose of venture capital is needed for your start-up, and he will say no.

Avencia, founded in 2000, is a software development firm that specializes in web-based geographic analysis, visualization and modeling applications. Its areas of expertise include cultural resources, land conservation, economic development, real estate, political analysis, law enforcement and government, among others.

“We grew from working out of my apartment to about 25 people today,” said Cheetham. “Not only have we grown, but we’re making it through a tough economy.”

“We were bootstrap. We didn’t have any venture capital. We grew based on revenue and cash flow.”

Avencia CEO Robert Cheetham

According to Cheetham, Avencia focuses on the intersection of geography and the Internet. A professional services firm, Avencia builds custom, web-based software for a range of organizations, from local non-profits to Philadelphia City Hall.

Avencia technology helps the Philadelphia Police Department do web-based analysis by tracking geographic patterns of crime. Matched with the police department’s data, Avencia helps law enforcement keep geographic tabs on offenders in the area.

The Philadelphia Department of Records uses a program called LandStat, which enables the public to see trends in real estate transactions and map property sales.

Among Avencia’s other notable projects, PhillyHistory.org is a website that uses city archives – where there are upwards of one million historic photographs – and steadily scans them into a database. This allows the photographs to be geographically encoded, with the end result making them available to the public.

“Most of our customers are in local government, non-profit organizations and academic researchers,” said Cheetham.

Within government, said Cheetham, there has been a more urgent demand for online, interactive maps, for which Avencia helped build the online presence.

“As a company, we are trying to focus on projects that are intellectually challenging and are asking interesting questions about the world,” said Cheetham.

“We have been lucky enough there’s a lot of work out there available for geography and the Web. Our goal is to continue to grow the company, while still retaining a research and development-type environment.”

Because Avencia services are so specialized, Cheetham said the group is often choosy in which projects it accepts. By taking this “boutique” approach to the business, Avencia is able to take on projects that have social value and are intellectually promising.