Cloud Provider Appirio Expands Internationally With Salesforce-Driven Funding Boost
The San Mateo, Calif.-based cloud provider said the expansion will be through a combination of organic and inorganic growth and will help Appirio beef up its social enterprise presence in new geographies. The financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.
"Cloud computing is already almost a $70 billion market, but it's still early days in the overall shift happening in IT -- especially outside the U.S.," Appirio CEO Chris Barbin said in a statement. "When companies see the impact of powering their business with the cloud, that shift will only accelerate and they'll need a cloud-focused partner to help them."
The international push comes as Appirio hits its five-year anniversary and just days before Dreamforce 2011, Salesforce's massive cloud conference in San Francisco this week, which is celebrating its ninth anniversary this year. In its five years, Appirio has moved more than 1 million people to the cloud and has consistently grown revenue more than 70 percent year over year.
The move to target European and Asia Pacific market continues the international expansion Appirio started in 2008, when it opened its first international office in Tokyo, which grew Appirio's operations by more than 100 percent annually and bringing aboard massive Japanese customers including Japan Post Network Ltd.
Appirio has found success in bringing its enterprise customers to the cloud, by helping them adopt, connect and extend once disparate cloud platforms including Salesforce, Google and Workday.
Appirio is a major Salesforce partner, and is expected to play a large role in Salesforce's and its partners' drive to the social enterprise, a confluence of social, mobile and open cloud technologies that cloud providers will leverage to bring clients into the social and collaborative world.
"Appirio is one of our most innovative partners and has contributed to the success of some of our largest customers in both the U.S. and Japan," Maria Martinez, Salesforce executive vice president, Customers for Life, said in a statement. "Partners like Appirio understand what it takes to make the social enterprise a reality, and our global enterprise customers need a global social enterprise partner. We're happy to now help Appirio expand their brand and team globally."