Arik Hesseldahl

Recent Posts by Arik Hesseldahl

Apptio Lands $45 Million Series E From Janus Capital

Apptio, a company focused on helping CIOs get a deep understanding of their technology investments, has just scored a significant investment of its own.

The company announced a short while ago that it had landed a $45 million Series E round of financing led by Janus Capital; the Hillman Company, the investment firm run by Pittsburgh billionaire Henry Hillman; and a third party that was not named. Existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Madrona Venture Group and Shasta Ventures also participated, as did a few accounts managed by investment firm T. Rowe Price. Cisco Systems is also an investor.

The round brings Apptio’s total capital raised to $136 million. Its last reported implied valuation was about $600 million. CEO Sunny Gupta wouldn’t tell me the new valuation, but said it was a “considerable improvement.” You can probably do the math yourself.

When I last checked in with Gupta in mid-2011, Apptio, which is based outside Seattle in Bellevue, Wash., had 60 customers, including Facebook, and was managing about $50 billion in tech investments. Now it has 125 customers, including Boeing, Target and Xerox.

Managing IT costs and investments is all Apptio does. Gupta is a former partner exec with Opsware, the company that venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz famously sold to Hewlett-Packard.

He spotted a shift in priorities: CIOs were increasingly focused not on managing technology, but on getting the best bang out of that technology for the dollar, and on keeping costs as low as possible.

Taking a round from institutional investors like Janus is usually a sign that an IPO is coming next. That’s the trajectory that both Facebook and Workday followed. Gupta was a little evasive when I asked him about his IPO plans. There’s nothing imminent, but he didn’t say anything to imply that we shouldn’t be watching for an S-1 filing within the next year or so. I certainly will be.

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