Apttus

Apttus is an American business-to-business software provider specializing in business process automation.[1][2][3]

Apttus
TypePrivately held company
IndustryEnterprise software
Founded2006 (2006)
FounderNeehar Giri, Kent Perkocha, Kirk Krappe
HeadquartersSan Mateo, California, United States
Servicesrevenue management, contract management, ecommerce management
OwnerThoma Bravo
Websiteapttus.com

The company provides what it calls “middle office” solutions, utilizing artificial intelligence to optimize various financial and commercial functions, such as quote-to-cash, revenue management, and e-commerce management.[1][4] Apttus’ software was originally developed to leverage the Salesforce customer relationship management platform,[4] but it has since been integrated with Microsoft Azure[5] and IBM Cloud[6] as well.

In September 2018, private equity firm Thoma Bravo purchased a majority stake in Apttus.[7] This resulted in significant turnover in the executive ranks, as Thoma Bravo installed a new CEO, CFO, Chief Legal Officer, Chief People Officer, Vice President of Finance, and Corporate Controller by the end of 2018.[8]

History

Apttus was founded in 2006 by Kirk Krappe,[9][4] Neehar Giri, and Kent Perkocha.[10][8] The three co-founders reportedly developed the company from ideas written down on napkins in a laundry room.[11] Krappe served as the company's first CEO, with Giri as Chief Solutions Officer and Perkocha as Chief Customer Officer.[8]

The company was bootstrapped and took no outside funding until 2013,[12] when it raised $37 million in Series A financing from a group of investors including K1 Capital, ICONIQ, and Salesforce.[4] By the time of its 2018 buyout, Apttus had received a total of $404 million in investment capital[7] from five rounds of fundraising, which gave the company a valuation of approximately $1.3 billion, as of September 2016.[13]

Despite publicly discussing the likelihood of an initial public offering in 2016,[9] Apttus never went public before being acquired by Thoma Bravo. The 2015 acquisition of Apttus rival SteelBrick by Salesforce, an early Apttus investor, was widely blamed for Apttus’ inability to complete an IPO or find a buyer at more favorable terms.[7][14][15] Thoma Bravo took a majority stake in Apttus in September 2018. The cost of the purchase was not revealed.[16]

Controversy

In July 2018, Krappe departed Apttus with little warning, a move later reported to have been driven by accusations of sexual assault and misrepresentations of the company's financial performance.[17] The allegations, which became public on November 1, 2018 with the publication of a Business Insider investigative piece, highlighted a company sales retreat at the One&Only Palmilla resort near Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, during which Krappe reportedly sexually assaulted a 26-year-old female business development employee. Other allegations accused Krappe of presenting misleading data on Apttus’ size and financial health, and at the time of the report, there were “several” sexual harassment claims underway, as well as three lawsuits over the financial misrepresentation issues.[18]

References
  1. "About Apttus | The Leading Quote-to-Cash Software Provider". APTTUS. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  2. "Apttus Launches New Cloud-Based E-Commerce Service". eWEEK. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  3. "Kirk Krappe, CEO of Apttus | Industry Era". www.industry-era.com. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  4. Taulli, Tom. "Apttus: A Cloud Giant From Virtually No Money". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  5. "Salesforce native Apttus ports its apps to Azure". diginomica. 2016-04-03. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  6. Murphy, Ian (2018-05-17). "Apttus Omni adds IBM Cloud to its stack -". Enterprise Times. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  7. "Thoma Bravo buys majority stake in Apttus in unexpected ending". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  8. Stangel, Luke (2018-12-20). "Apttus executive shakeup continues with exit of chief strategy officer". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  9. "Apttus CEO Kirk Krappe Chats Candidly About 2016 Exit". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  10. "Management Team". APTTUS. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  11. Chowdhry, Amit. "Apttus: The Story Behind The Popular Quote-To-Cash Giant". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  12. "K1 exits Apttus". PE Hub. 2018-10-03. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  13. "Apttus scores $55M as it closes in on an IPO". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  14. Festa, Mike. "How The Steelbrick Acquisition is Changing the Quote-to-Cash Landscape". www.springcm.com. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  15. Grant, Nico (2019-05-23). "Salesforce's Success Rides on One Man's Gut". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  16. Miller, Ron (2018-09-04). "Thoma Bravo buys majority stake in Apttus in unexpected ending". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
  17. "Private equity's #MeToo woes". Axios. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  18. Peterson, Becky. "A trip to Cabo, an allegation of sexual assault, and 'a culture of dishonesty': Inside the downfall of the founding CEO of $1.9 billion startup Apttus". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
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