SnapLogic raises $40m to connect enterprise apps and data
- Summary:
- Enterprise integration vendor Snaplogic raises $40m for global expansion in its mission to connect enterprise apps and data across cloud and on-premise
Enterprise integration vendor SnapLogic has closed a $40 million venture funding round to fuel global expansion, it announced today. The company, which claims more than 700 customers including Adobe, AstraZeneca, Capital One and McKinsey, competes with up-and-coming integration vendors such as MuleSoft and recent IPO Talend, but says its platform goes beyond what they offer.
CEO Gaurav Dhillon argues the connected enterprise needs integration to work across a hybrid landscape of cloud and on-premise IT, and must link both applications and data sources, rather than the traditional approach of operating separate ESB and ETL integration platforms. Speaking earlier this week, he told me:
Cloudwashed integration from the last century is not what they're looking for.
As people are starting to think of upgrading from last-century products — Tibco, Informatica, Webmethods — they can look at an open-source type approach, or they can look at a self-service model with SnapLogic that embraces their SaaS strategy and the new cloudspace they're building at a whole new level.
SnapLogic provides a cloud-based integration control plane with a drag-and-drop visual designer, where users create pipelines of pre-built connectors called 'Snaps'. The connectors can be cloud-based or on-premise, and can plug into applications, data warehouses, big data streams or IoT deployments. These pipelines can then be scheduled, run in response to specific events, or called programmatically as REST-based APIs. The underlying data streaming architecture is optimized for real-time processing with high throughput.
For an in-depth look at SnapLogic's strategy and offering, read this two-part interview with Dhillon and diginomica's Jon Reed, published last year.
Connecting at speed
It's the ability to rapidly build connections without having to write code that provides the compelling use case for many of SnapLogic's customers, says Dhillon.
Speed is key. Getting things quickly is not only the right way, but also the only way to get this done in the window and budget.
Enterprises today feel they don't want to waste any time in following the example set by pioneering digital giants such as Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google (often known as FANG), he explains.
The most pressing need is fundamentally under the umbrella of digital transformation of their company. There is a fundamental shift towards being more data driven, using AI and analytics that that only FANG have had, and using these technologies in big businesses.
Three trends in particular are driving these needs, says Dhillon.
- "The biggest one is cloudification of the enterprise," as enterprises turn to cloud-based provisioning of IT and cloud applications such as CRM, HCM and financials.
- The second is "a reimagining of business intelligence and reporting," particularly in sectors such as omnichannel in retail or the Industrial Internet in manufacturing. "People are hungry for enriched platforms for predictive analytics," to enhance products and profitability, he says.
- The third piece is mobile — delivering connected digital applications to smart mobile devices while ensuring data remains protected.
Global framework, local flexibility
Security and compliance are important facets of the SnapLogic platform, says Dhillon, including its support for retaining data on-premise.
Security is important for the enterprise so therefore it is a large part of what we do.
The set of concerns that we're focused on are very much the ones that large enterprises have.
It's important to support IT in meeting global requirements at the same time as enabling specific business goals in each functional domain. Dhillon says the SnapLogic platform aims to provide local flexibility within a global policy framework.
How you do these things at the same time is the opportunity of our age. It's how we balance the particular job title desire to get things done quickly without causing unexpected consequences.
We've seen the CIO and the CMO kiss and make up in the past two years. As companies realize that technology is what they need to have competence about, you have this shift in thinking and a 'glocal' [global+local] way of looking at the world.
Investment goals
Bringing SnapLogic's total funding to date to $136 million, today's $40 million is a mezzanine round, which is generally regarded as the final round prior to an IPO. A public listing isn't imminent, Dhillon told me, but he indicates that the funding provides enough runway to continue the company's three-year track record of doubling revenues annually, until it reaches the kind of numbers expected of a public company.
The round was led by European private equity firm Vitruvian Partners, which brings together former Goldman Sachs, Apax and Google Ventures team members. Prior investors Andreessen Horowitz, Capital One, Ignition Partners, NextEquity Partners and Triangle Peak Partners also participated. The investment company's goals align with SnapLogic's strategy of expanding into new geographies, says Dhillon.
Our ambition and their strategy were in exact alignment. Their strategy is to provide a world-class partnership to world-class Silicon Valley companies for global expansion. Our strategy is global expansion.
We have such a tremendous buzz in the US and we need to do the same thing around the world.
SnapLogic recently opened new offices in the UK and Australia and has recruited a new CTO, CMO and international sales leader.
My take
Listen to the leading lights of enterprise integration these days and you'll hear that there are growing demands for more flexible connections and a self-service approach. This seems inevitable when the landscape of possible connections is multiplying at its current rate, and enterprises continue to evolve their IT infrastructures to a more lightweight, micro services based architecture.
At one point in our conversation, Dhillon described what SnapLogic does as "software-defined integration." It seemed entirely appropriate and very much in tune with current trends in other areas of IT infrastructure — a better fit than iPaaS (integration platform-as-a-service), which is Gartner's name for the magic quadrant in which it sees SnapLogic playing.
Certainly, as enterprises seek to combine applications and data in new ways, SnapLogic's integrated and flexible approach to these connection needs seems very relevant. A new injection of $40 million is a useful endorsement and should mean we'll be hearing more of the company in the future and how its solution is helping its enterprise customers.