Software developer Anaplan is bought by investment company Thoma Bravo
The U.S. investment company Thoma Bravo has closed a deal to acquire Anaplan, which is a software developer. The purchase amounted to $10.7 billion, which is 46% higher than the market valuation of the company.
Under the terms of the deal, holders of Anaplan stock will receive $66 for each security; the acquisition amount will be covered solely in cash. The software developer will be led by its current director, Frank Calderoni, after the purchase.
Anaplan offers clients a cloud platform for organizing and optimizing business processes in various areas of activity. Unlike the giants in the segment, such as IBM, Microsoft, and SAP, the company is relatively new to the market. The software from Anaplan was created as an alternative to the software that for a long time was considered traditional. In the case of Anaplan, the key technology is the cloud center, which integrates all computing operations. This allows customers to create, implement business models that are optimal for them, and users are not required to have in-depth knowledge of IT.
Anaplan appeared in 2006 as a project of two programmers, Guy Heddleton and Michael Gould. At the time, the solutions offered by large corporations limited users by providing options for static interaction only. As a result, trying to integrate simultaneous work with different divisions of the same company was quite challenging and problematic. Anaplan’s cloud platform is based on in-memory solutions, modern databases, and other IT. The development took about 4 years and the product hit the market in 2010. As a result, Anaplan gave a basis for a new approach in the field of increasing efficiency and interaction to build business processes. By 2012 the number of the company’s clients had increased by 500% and its profitability had grown 8 times. The platform’s clients are well-known corporations involved in various segments – food, technology market, retail, and others.
In 2013, the developer managed to get $33 million in another round of financing, and just a year later Anaplan received an additional $100 million, bringing the amount of investment in the company to $150 million.
In 2018, the developer entered the market by listing on the stock exchange in New York.
The use of innovative systems for architecture combined with various cloud technologies makes it possible to store all data in RAM. All information is in spreadsheets used for planning. Cells here have their own formulas, which are calculated with the data in the remaining cells. Thus, the system automatically accepts updates only for interrelated cells. And the changes can be made by any user, and others instantly see them.
