For the second time in just over a year, Cherwell Software has received a private equity investment from KKR. This latest sum --$172 million -- is in addition to KKR’s previous $50 million contribution to the enterprise service management company in February 2017.
The previous investment was seen as a turning point for the Colorado Springs, Colorado-based company -- especially as it sought to take on larger players like ServiceNow and BMC Software in the IT service management business.
KKR, a global investment firm, is taking a larger stake in the company through its Next Generation Technology Fund. The fund focuses on investments on in software, security, Internet, digital media, and information services.
Cherwell Software Growth Plans
The cash influx will help Cherwell push deeper into the service management market. The company’s platform is designed to unify various tools to monitor insight, efficiency, and productivity.
Cherwell, which launched in 2004, had about 450 employees last year. The company has seen what it calls “dramatic” growth in new customers in the EMEA and APAC regions.
The company says nearly 70 percent of its enterprise customers have expanded their use of service management beyond IT, extending the service to cover HR, Project Management, Facilities, and Security needs.
The challenge?: ServiceNow is expanding rapidly in each of those areas as well. Tony Beller, ServiceNow’s VP of worldwide alliances and channels, explained the strategy in this ChannelE2E podcast.
Still, Cherwell has a solid growth story of its own. The company's active user groups have increased by 218 percent, while customer attendance was up by 250 percent in 2017, Cherwell says.
Additional insights from Joe Panettieri.
