Entrepreneurs looking for tips on how to rake in venture capital might want to talk to Apptio‘s co-founder and CEO Sunny Gupta. Although the Bellevue, WA-based software startup still has money in the bank from its $7 million Series A in 2007, the company said today that it has raised another $16.5 million in Series C financing led by continuing investor Shasta Ventures. Current investors Andreessen Horowitz Fund, Greylock Partners, and Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group also participated in the round.
Founded in 2006, Apptio develops technology business management software, specifically for IT financial management. The software, designed to help businesses manage the cost, quality, and value of its IT services, provides information on the total cost of IT services through an interactive “Bill of IT,” and combines elements of planning, budgeting, and forecasting of IT services directly into the system.
Since its Series A, the company has practically had to fend off further investment. Apptio raised a $14 million Series B in August 2009, which it planned to use to “crush the competition,” as Gupta told Xconomy last summer. And today’s financing news comes on the heels of “a tremendous amount of growth” over the last year, according to Gupta—a doubling in its clientele to more than 50 customers, and a 300 percent growth in bookings. Though the company was by no means in need of more financial support, Gupta says venture firms were approaching him about investing.
“We have a very strong cash position,” he says. “So while we didn’t really need the money, we got a very strong inbound request from the VC community to take on the money. This is a really strong market opportunity, and by taking the additional capital, we can expand our business beyond.”
The latest round of funding will be used to expand Apptio’s reach over the next 12 months—increasing sales and marketing throughout North America and Europe to help build out to new markets, and launching a number of new products and capabilities, all aimed to “help CIOs [chief information officers] manage their business better,” Gupta says.
“Today we are really focused in the U.K., and Europe is a pretty big territory to cover,” he says. “And then in 18 to 24 months we certainly look at targeting Asia-Pacific as another geography from an expansion perspective.”
As for the company’s products, Gupta says Apptio will continue to focus on the business IT management market, and plans to roll out new planning and processing applications in the near future that give CIOs better control over the planning of IT decisions, budgeting, and forecasting.
A year ago Apptio had 45 employees. Now the company employs 85 full time staffers, and Gupta says he expects to add another 30 across the board—from development and engineering, to sales
