Quote-to-cash software company Apttus raises $88M Series D at $1.3B valuation, plans IPO for first half of 2017
Alex Konrad / Forbes :
Context & Ripple Effects
Apttus is adding to a war chest it built just over a year ago with its $108M Series C at a valuation above $1B, and the timing is no accident: days before this round, fellow enterprise-cloud company Apptio went public and closed its first day up more than 40% at roughly $840M (Apptio's first-day pop), reopening the listing window Apttus had watched since Apptio began tapping banks in mid-2015.
The $1.3B mark keeps Apttus in unicorn territory while it lines up a first-half 2017 IPO, though the road behind it was bumpy — sources reported the founding CEO departed in July. The longer arc matters too: two years on, Apttus never reached the public market this round was meant to fund, instead selling a majority stake to Thoma Bravo (Thoma Bravo's majority buyout).
First-order effects
- Apttus gains $88M in primary capital and a marked-up $1.3B valuation, extending its runway to execute the first-half 2017 IPO it has now formally declared.
- Late-stage investors get a fresh entry point priced off Apptio's successful September debut, which gave bankers proof that enterprise cloud listings could clear the market.
Second-order effects
- Rivals in quote-to-cash and sales automation now face a competitor with over $200M raised across two mega-rounds, pressuring them to raise or seek acquirers rather than outspend Apttus organically.
- Apptio's 40%+ first-day gain strengthens the pitch bankers can make to other enterprise-software unicorns, accelerating the queue of companies filing behind Apttus.
Third-order effects
- The pattern here — a venture-backed SaaS company pricing a pre-IPO round against a peer's public-market reception, then ultimately exiting to private equity instead — previews the era's structural shift in which buyout firms like Thoma Bravo become the default liquidity path when IPO windows close.
The trend: Enterprise SaaS unicorns are timing late-stage raises to reopenings of the IPO window, with private equity increasingly positioned as the fallback exit when public listings slip.