A year of tremendous growth was capped off by the Boston-based software developer Appfire announcement on Tuesday that it had closed on a $100 million investment from growth private equity firm TA Associates.
In 2005, Appfire began operations as a professional services firm. It was one of the original partners of the Australian software business Atlassian, and in 2013 it changed its status to become a product company. Since then, the firm has made a name for itself as a pioneer in creating, releasing, and disseminating apps via the Atlassian Marketplace that aid businesses like Google, Amazon, and Starbucks with everything from workflow automation to business intelligence.
There are already more than 110,000 active installs of Appfire’s 85 products globally.
For about 15 years, the company ran its operations solely on its funds before receiving a $49 million investment from Silversmith Capital Partners in June. Six businesses inside the Atlassian ecosystem have since been bought by it: Artemis, Beecom, Bolo, Botron, Innovalog, and Navarambh.
Randall Ward, co-founder and CEO of Appfire believes that moving ahead, this new capital from TA Associates will aid the business in continuing its worldwide expansion and expanding its software library to satisfy the expectations of an expanding clientele.
Ward wrote in an email to Built In, “This investment is a genuine testimonial to our exceptional team and further supports our vision, strategy, and execution.” The ability to engage with the product categories where we know we can bring the greatest importance to the teams being obtained as well as to the consumers we can serve together is made possible by our solid financial position, outstanding connections, and a wealth of data to assist us. We’ve always had the idea of working together with the top experts in our field. We now have the tools to accomplish it on the scale that will help us achieve our objectives for 2021 and beyond.
According to Ward, Appfire increased its staff size by more than double in 2020 as a result of new employees and these most recent acquisitions. This year, it intends to expand the team even more, with a focus on hiring for positions in product management, marketing, business systems, finance, and support.
