Despite an economic slowdown, there’s a new unicorn in town.
Dallas-based o9 Solutions, a business planning AI platform, announced receiving a $100 million minority equity investment from New York-based investment firm KKR’s Next Generation Technology Growth Fund II, bringing the company’s valuation to more than $1 billion – marking o9’s first external capital raise.
“This investment… is a great validation of the differentiation of the o9 platform, the team we have built, and potential we have for value creation across industry verticals,” said Chakri Gottemukkala, o9 co-founder and CEO, in a prepared statement.
The newest funding brings the company’s total to $122 million, according to Crunchbase. It was founded in 2009. o9’s platform focuses on business and operational planning in a number of verticals through product demand forecasts and real-time supply chain visibility by analyzing external data like customer demographics and weather patterns.
The investment comes as o9 saw 100% annual recurring revenue growth in 2019, along with hundreds of new hires. Inc. listed the company’s revenue at $31.5 million in 2018. With the new funding, o9 plans to expand its global client base. Already, the company counts giants like Google, Walmart and Starbucks among its customers, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Co-Founder and Chairman of o9, Sanjiv Sidhu, said he sees increased demand in the company’s platform during the COVID-19 crisis and in the months ahead, as market uncertainty drives many business leaders to accelerate digital capabilities and increase efficiency.
"The capabilities offered by the o9 platform are now increasingly mission critical for any global company,” Sidhu said in a prepared statement. "As we talk to CxOs, we see that the COVID-19 pandemic has only elevated in their minds the need… resilience, agility, environmental sustainability, productivity and cost management. o9 is uniquely positioned to help and be the partner of choice for companies as they build their digital future.”
