Billion Dollar Unicorns: What Is Anaplan’s Product Strategy?

According to a recent report, the global cloud ERP market is projected to grow 8% annually over the next few years to $28 billion by 2022. During the same period, the North American cloud ERP market is estimated to grow to $11.1 billion in 2022. San Francisco-based Anaplan has had a roller coaster ride recently. The company was suspected to have dropped off the Billion Dollar Unicorn club. But recent valuation reports suggest that it is back on track.

Anaplan’s Financials

Anaplan was founded in 2006 by IBM alumnus Michael Gould who realized that there was a need for a next generation planning software. For the next four years, Michael locked himself in a barn in the UK and coded to build the prototype for Anaplan. Anaplan is built on a Hyperblock platform that integrates a cube, columnar, and cell-based database to deliver a complex business model that can compute at a faster speed.

Anaplan is privately held and does not disclose detailed financials. During my interview with its formermy interview with its former in 2014, he had confirmed that Anaplan was operating at an annual revenue rate of $100 million. More recently, Anaplan reported a 75% growth in subscription revenues to $120 million for 2017. For the first time ever, Anaplan’s bookings are now trending at more than $200 million. Anaplan has more than 850 customers, including American Airlines, Anheuser-Busch, and Merck to name a few.

Anaplan is venture funded so far with $300 million in financing raised from PremjiInvest, Baillie Gifford, Brookside Capital, Coatue Management, Founders Circle Capital, Harmony Ventures, Sands Capital Management, Salesforce Ventures, Sands Capital Ventures, DFJ Growth, Shasta Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, and Granite Ventures. Its latest round of funding was held in January this year, when it raised $60 million from its existing investors at a valuation of $1.4 billion. Valuation has increased from $1.1 billion that it was valued at, back in 2016.