Enterprise AI software platform provider o9 Solutions announced that it has received equity investments totalling $295 million from General Atlantic, Generation Investment Management and existing investor KKR. The company said that the investment will help o9 accelerate growth for its AI-powered Integrated Business Planning platform and drive innovation in R&D, industry knowledge models and partner ecosystem development.
General Atlantic, its BeyondNetZero venture and Generation Investment Management join KKR as investors in o9, valuing the company at $2.7 billion. This marks an increase from the $1 billion valuation in April 2020 at the time of the company's first-ever external investment led by KKR, which is also participating in this funding round. This capital raise follows a year during which the company reported a greater than threefold increase year-over-year in annual recurring revenue (ARR) from new customers.
o9's Digital Brain platform is used for supply chain, commercial and integrated business planning capabilities. The company said that its platform allows companies to build a live, digital model of enterprise data and knowledge that helps them detect demand and supply risks and opportunities, forecast demand more accurately, and evaluate what-if scenarios all in real-time.
“Demand and supply volatility and complexity has been growing and the pandemic has only accelerated the challenges companies face in meeting customer service and financial goals. At the same time, there is significant pressure on boards and executives from customers and employees to also drive meaningful improvements in sustainability goals. And we believe that o9 is poised perfectly to help companies deal with these mega trends with a differentiated, proven platform,” said Chakri Gottemukkala, Co-founder and CEO of o9.
The new investments and strategic partnerships with General Atlantic, BeyondNetZero and Generation Investment Management, along with our established strategic partnership with KKR, will help us accelerate this sacred mission of making the o9 Digital Brain the most value-creating enterprise platform.”
“A sustainable supply chain requires companies to digitally transform their planning and decision-making capabilities. o9's Digital Brain platform makes us the partner of choice for companies across the world and we are pleased and honored that General Atlantic, BeyondNetZero and Generation Investment Management recognize this at such a pivotal phase of our growth trajectory,” Sanjiv Sidhu, Chairman and Co-Founder, o9 said.
“The business fits squarely within our theses at General Atlantic and BeyondNetZero to support companies that are leveraging innovation to tackle some of the most pressing issues in the world. o9 helps large organizations transform their costly, complex and resource-intensive supply chains into profitable and environmentally sound models – playing a critical role in enabling them to work toward net zero targets,” said Tanzeen Syed, Managing Director, General Atlantic.
Joy Tuffield, Partner in the Growth Equity strategy at Generation Investment Management, said, “Generation's brand is predicated on the belief that long-term commercial opportunity is synonymous with sustainable outcomes. We believe the best businesses stand for something significant. Sustainability and supply chain issues have never been more important. o9 is one of the rare companies that we believe can help global enterprises leverage the power of digital technologies to deliver on both imperatives.”
